NIH Public Access Policy Compliance Information

The CSHL Library is always available to assist all CSHL researchers and students to comply with this policy. Click here for help.

NIH Public Access Policy

The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication.  To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

NIH Public Access Policy

The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

As of April 7, 2008:

NIH-funded investigators are required to submit (or have submitted for them) their final, peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central (PMC) upon acceptance of publication to be made publicly available within 12 months of publication. This policy applies to manuscripts arising from NIH-funded research that have been accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008.

As of May 25, 2008:

NIH applications, proposals and progress reports must include the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) when citing an article that falls under the policy and is authored or co-authored by the investigator, or arose from the investigator’s NIH award. This policy includes applications, proposals and progress reports submitted to the NIH on or after May 25, 2008.

PMCID and PMID

PubMed Central is the U. S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.  The PMCID is not the same as the PubMed Identifier number (PMID).  NIH-funded authors should use the PMCID, not the PMID, in order to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.

The PMCID is a unique reference number or identifier that is assigned to every article that is submitted and accepted into PMC.  The PMCID is assigned to the submitted manuscript after the final quality assurance check by PubMed Central.

“My NCBI”:

Once a “My NCBI” account is set up for managing a PI’s bibliography, it will be easy to work within My NCBI to check Public Access compliance, since My NCBI is connected to PubMed and PubMed Central.

How to Comply

1. Determine Applicability
   Does the NIH Public Access Policy apply to your paper?
2. Address Copyright
   Ensure that your publishing agreement allows the paper to be posted to PubMed Central in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
3. Submit Paper
   Submit papers to PubMed Central and approve public release.
4. Include PMCID in Citations
   Include the PMCID at the end of the full citation in your application or report.

See NIH Public Access web page for instructions including Frequently Asked Questions.  Authors may use whichever method is most appropriate for them and consistent with their publishing agreement. Click here for summary of information about submitting papers to PubMed Central, or use a search box on this page. 

Deposit a Manuscript through the NIHMS System:

In the event that the author has to make the deposit, go to the NIH Manuscript Submission System and use one of the listed logins.  If the manuscript has been submitted by the publisher, a third party or by one of the other authors, the manuscript will be awaiting PMC review.  Contact the library if you need help with submitting a manuscript.

Citation Compliance Summary Box:

Citation compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy is demonstrated by:

Using the PMCID (PubMed Central reference number) when it is available.

Format:   “PMCID: PMC1234567”

Example:  Canaran P, Buckler ES, Glaubitz JC, Stein L, Sun Q, Zhao W, Ware D. 2008. Panzea: an update on new content and features. Nucleic Acids Research 36 (Database Issue): D1041-3. PMCID: PMC2238995

If the PMCID is not yet assigned, compliance can be demonstrated by:

(1) Showing the NIHMS ID (NIH Manuscript Submission System reference number) within 3 months of the official publication date.  The NIHMS ID is assigned to a manuscript when it is submitted through NIHMS System by a journal publisher, the author, or a third party. 

Format:  “NIHMSID: NIHMS12345”*

(2) For final published articles that are in the process of being directly submitted to PubMed Central by journals that cooperate with NIH in submitting all NIH-funded final published articles for free; and by journals that submit NIH-funded final published articles for a fee, use

Format:  “PMC Journal – In Process”*

*PMCID should be put in place once it becomes available. 

Where to Locate the PMCID

In PubMed:

Once on the “Abstract” display, you will find the PMCID below the citation/abstract right after PMID.  This is the number to include on NIH proposals, applications and progress reports.

Following the PMCID is the embargo period (“Available on 2012/3/25” within the red circle), assigned by the publisher, meaning the publication has completed the submission process at PMC but the full text will not be available for free public viewing in PMC until the expiration of the embargo period.

In PubMed Central:

On the PMC Website, PMCID will be listed in search results only after full text is available for free public viewing.

 

PMID: PMCID Converter

PubMed offers a tool that can convert between the PMID, PMCID, and NIHMS ID, if they exist.  See page image below.

What to Do if the PMCID is Not Yet Available

If the PMCID has not yet been assigned to the manuscript, there are two other means of demonstrating compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy:

• NIHMS ID
• “PMC Journal - In Process”

Both of these are intended to be used as temporary means of demonstrating compliance until the PMCID is available.  They can be used in NIH applications, proposals and progress reports, and in responses to emails from NIH Program Officers.

Library Help

The CSHL Library is available to help locate PMCIDs, and customize personal EndNote libraries to store PMCIDs for bibliographic display and citations.  The Library also offers an on-site submission assistance service for all CSHL authors.

Contact the Library:

· Call the Library at x6872 or Yow-Ning Chang, Science Librarian, x6994

· Email: LibraryHelp@cshl.edu

· IM the “Online Librarian” from: http://library.cshl.edu/OnlineLibrarian/index.html

This information was last updated on 04-19-2011