| Government Requirement for Public Access to NIH-funded Research Articles |
On January 11, 2008, the National Institutes of Health announced its Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research, placing a new reporting requirement on NIH-funded researchers taking effect on April 7, 2008. The final, accepted peer-reviewed manuscripts of all articles arising from NIH-funded research which are accepted for publication on or after April 7th must be submitted to PubMed Central, NIH's digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, where they will be freely accessible to all so that they might better advance science and improve health.
There are three components for full compliance with the requirement: retaining key rights, uploading your article to NIH, and citing your article.
| Key Points |
The revised NIH Public Access Policy stipulates that FY2008 NIH-funded investigators are required to submit (or have submitted for them) their final, accepted 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 NIH-funded manuscripts that are directly funded by a contract signed on or after April 7, 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 for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.
The revised Public Access Policy replaces the former policy, implemented in May 2005 that strongly encouraged, but not required, NIH-funded authors to submit a copy of their peer reviewed manuscript to PM.
| When is Compliance Required? |
Compliance is tied to current NIH funding and the date of acceptance of the publication. Compliance is required under the following scenarios:
| Who is Responsible for Compliance? |
Institutions and Principal Investigators (PI) are responsible for compliance. The PI of the grant is also responsible even if they are not an author or co-author of a publication that falls under the revised NIH policy. (See NIH FAQ question #7.)
| What is a Final, Accepted Peer Reviewed Manuscript? |
Institutions and Principal Investigators (PI) are responsible for compliance. The PI of the grant is also responsible even if they are not an author or co-author of a publication that falls under the revised NIH policy. (See NIH FAQ question #2.)
| What is PubMed Central? |
PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. (See NIH FAQ question #2.)
| How Authors at NYU Can Comply |
There are many journal publishers that cooperate with NIH and submit the final published version to PMC with no embargo period on behalf of authors. If authors publish in one of these journals, no further action is required for compliance except to cite the PMCID reference number in future NIH applications, proposals and progress reports.
The first step for compliance is to check the NIH Journal List. If the journal being considered for publication is on this list, then the only step for compliance to follow is to cite the PMCID reference number.
If the journal being considered for publication is not on the NIH Journal List, then authors will need to ensure that they follow copyright law by retaining the right from publishers to comply with the NIH policy.
Authors are strongly encouraged to seek confirmation from journal publishers before submitting a manuscript for peer review to verify that the publisher will allow for compliance with the revised NIH Public Access Policy. The revised NIH Public Access Policy stipulates that:
“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.”
NIH recommends that “authors should avoid signing any agreements with publishers that do not allow the author to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. For more information, see NIH’s FAQ’s on the Public Access Policy.
How to Confirm with Publisher
- Review the publisher copyright agreement form.
- Review the “Instructions for Authors” or “NIH Public Access Policy Information” sections on the journal web site.
- Insure NYU copyright language as part of publisher agreement.
Many journal publishers grant authors the right to comply and also submit the peer reviewed version to PMC on behalf of the authors in full compliance with the revised NIH Public Access Policy. Authors should confirm that the journal publisher’s policy for NIH-funded authors reflects the revised NIH Public Access Policy and that the publisher’s copyright agreement form includes this information before signing.
An example of a journal policy that reflects the revised NIH Public Access Policy is Clinical Cancer Research - scroll down to the Funding Agencies Requirements section. The copyright agreement form for Clinical Cancer Research also reflects the revised NIH Public Access Policy.
If there is no clause on the publisher copyright agreement form or information on the journal web site, then NYU researchers must use the following contract language to ensure copyright agreement:
“Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for Journal publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by Journal.”
There are three options for submittal of the work:
- journal publisher submits on behalf of authors
- author self-submits
- third party submits on behalf of authors
Regardless of who submits, submission must be done upon acceptance of publication and the work must be made publicly available in PMC within 12 months of publication.
Journal Publisher Submits
Many journal publishers submit the peer reviewed version on behalf of authors with some allowing for the final published version. However before signing the publisher copyright agreement form, authors should verify that the journal publisher:
- Submits upon acceptance of publication
- Allows the work to be publicly available in PMC within 12 months of publication
- Does not charge unreasonable fees
If the journal publisher does not follow both steps in submitting on behalf of authors, then authors will need to negotiate before signing the copyright agreement or use another journal publisher in order to be in full compliance with the revised NIH Public Access Policy.
Self-Submit
If the journal publisher does not submit to PMC on behalf of authors, the author will need to prepare for submittal. If there are multiple authors, the assigned corresponding author will need to prepare for submittal.
Third Party Submits
The NYU Health Sciences Libraries already has a procedure in place to support third party submissions. The Libraries can upload the manuscripts for researchers if they are unable to do so themselves.
The author will be required to provide the following information on the web form:
- Confirmation that they have copyright clearance from the journal publishers to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. [a check box]
- Confirmation that the grant number has been added to the final manuscript submission [a check box]
- Title of the journal
- Title of manuscript
- Principal investigator
- Grant number/s
- Manuscript files/s, including all graphics and supplemental materials associated with the work (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, PDF, etc)
The next step for compliance is PI approval of the submission by responding to emails from NIHMS. Approval involves initial verification of the submitted manuscript; providing grant award; and a final review of the web version before PMC posting.
The final step for compliance is to cite the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID).
NIH applications, proposals and progress reports must include the 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 for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates. (See NIH FAQ question #1.)
Example of how to cite the PMCID:
Zero, EA. (2003) A New Vision for the National Institutes of Health. Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology (3), 159-160. PMCID: 400215
If the PMICID reference number is not available, use the NIHMS ID reference number. (See NIH FAQ question #6.) If neither the PMCID nor the NIHMS ID reference numbers are available, cite as “PMCID pending.”
| Last updated
Thursday, 08-May-2008 10:48:12 EDT
by the Medical Library Webteam. To contact us Click Here. |
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