NIH Public Access Policy Help Guide

The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires investigators 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.

The major components of complying with NIH Public Access Policy:

• Determine Applicability
• Address Copyright
• Submit Manuscript to the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS) for Deposit into PubMed Central (PMC)
  
• Show Evidence of Compliance

The Principal Investigtor (PI) is ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.

In navigating compliance with NIH Public Access Policy, it may be helpful to keep in mind that there are multiple systems involved.  Here is a graphic displaying the systems mentioned in this help guide.