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NIH Public Access Policy Help Guide

Explains the NIH Public Access Policy, the process for submitting peer reviewed articles to PubMed Central and using myNCBI to verify compliance.

Summary of Options: 4 Methods

There are four methods to ensure that an applicable paper is submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.  Authors may use whichever method is most appropriate for them and consistent with their publishing agreement. Click on the method in the table for details.

 

Method A
Journal deposits final published articles in PubMed Central without author involvement

NIH List of Journals that Submit Directly to PubMed Central

Method B
Author asks publisher to deposit specific final published article in PMC

Method C 
Author deposits final peer-reviewed manuscript in PMC via the NIHMS

Method D
Publisher deposits peer-reviewed manuscript, Author completes submission process

Version of Paper Submitted

Final Published Article

Final Published Article

Final Peer-Reviewed Manuscript

Final Peer-Reviewed Manuscript

Task 1: Who starts the deposit process?

Publisher

Publisher

Author or designee, via NIHMS

Publisher

Task 2: Who approves paper for processing?

Publisher

Publisher

Author, via NIHMS

Author, via NIHMS

Task 3: Who approves paper for Pub Med Central display?

Publisher

Publisher

Author, via NIHMS

Author, via NIHMS

Participating journal/publisher

Method A Journals

Make arrangements with these publishers

Check publishing agreement

Check publishing agreement

Who is Responsible?

NIH Awardee

NIH Awardee

NIH Awardee

NIH Awardee

To cite papers, from acceptance for publication to 3 months post publication

PMCID or “PMC Journal- In Process”

PMCID or “PMC Journal- In Process”

PMCID or NIHMSID

PMCID or NIHMSID

To cite papers, 3 months post publication and beyond

PMCID

PMCID

PMCID

PMCID

Tracking Publications: MyNCBI - My Bibliography

My Bibliography is service available through your free account in MyNCBI.  MyNCBI accounts must be linked to your eRA Commons account in order to see the Awards View.  You can add eRA Commons as a Linked Account from the account settings screen in MyNCBI (click on your username in the upper right corner).

My Bibliography is designed for authors to easily collect citations for their publications that has added features to track and manage compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy as well as generate Research Performance Progress Reports. 

See the NLM Technical Bulletin on My Bibliography: Award Compliance Reports in PDF for eRA Commons Users.MyBibliography