NIH Public Access Policy
NIH Public
Access Policy
March 2008
To NIH Funded
Researchers/Authors:
NIH has released a new policy,
entitled the NIH Public Access Policy. This policy becomes effective
April 7, 2008
, but applies to articles arising from grants active from
October 1, 2007
. Under this new federal law NIH requires that the final version of any peer
reviewed journal article resulting from NIH-funded activities be submitted to
the PubMed Central (
PMC
) repository where it will be made available to the public within 12 months
after the article is published.
The new policy has three main
compliance issues which UVM authors must address: (1)
Copyright, (2) manuscript submission
to
PMC
, and (3) citing
PMC
ID numbers. Failure to comply with the policy may jeopardize your eligibility
for future funding.
Some publishers have binding
agreements with NIH to make the final published version of every NIH funded
article publicly available in
PMC
, within 12 months of publication. If you publish in one of these journals, no
further action is needed to comply with the copyright and submission
requirements below. A list of these
journals may be viewed at the NIH
Public Access Website.
(1)
Copyright:
UVM authors/investigators must
ensure after
April 7, 2008
that all agreements with publishers
that are not listed on the NIH Public Access Website above permit submission to
PMC
.
- A
link to a standard letter
to the publishers that you should include with your manuscript
submission indicating your intent to comply with this policy can be found here.
- NIH
has provided standard language (included in the publisher's letter).
This, or similar language, must be inserted into the copyright
agreement to ensure your right to deposit your article and supporting data
into
PMC
. (Some agreements may already contain this language).
(2)
Manuscript Submission to
PMC
:
For articles accepted for
publication on or after April 7, 2008 (except for those journals listed on the
NIH Public Access Website above), UVM principal investigators must ensure that
the final peer reviewed manuscript and accompanying data are deposited upon
acceptance into
PMC
using the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).
- NIHMS
is a user-friendly system; submission typically takes 10 -15 minutes.
Submission can be done by the author or a third party in the lab or
department.
- During
submission, you will specify the length of the embargo period before your
manuscript becomes publicly accessible. The embargo period may be no longer
than 12 months, and must be consistent with the language in your copyright
agreement with the publisher.
-
PMC
will notify you when your article is ready for proofing.
Submission is not complete until the author approves the
PMC
web-formatted version of the manuscript.
- Some
journals that are not listed on the NIH Public Access Website will offer to
submit articles to
PMC
on your behalf, either at no cost or for a fee. However, you will still need
to (a) ensure that the copyright agreement you sign either guarantees that
the publisher will deposit for you or reserves your right to do so; and (b)
proof your article when notified by
PMC. Submission fees can be avoided if authors submit manuscripts themselves.
- NIHMS
has been operational since May 2005 - staff is available on-line or by
telephone at the "help desk" to assist in the implementation of the
policy.
(3)
Citing
PMC
or NIHMD reference numbers:
When a manuscript is submitted
to NIH an NIHMS submission number is assigned and once it is in
PMC
a
PMC
ID number is assigned. Effective May 25,
2008, UVM investigators must include the NIHMS Submission number or the
PMC
ID number when citing articles accepted for publication on
or after
April 7, 2008
in NIH progress reports, new applications, and renewals.
These numbers are available by searching PubMed or PubMed Central.
Other Resources:
Last modified March 27 2008 10:00 AM
