NIH Public Access Policy Details

The NIH Public Access Policy implements Division F Section 217 of PL111-8 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009). The law states:

The Director of the National Institutes of Health ("NIH")shall require in the current fiscal year and thereafter that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, that the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.

Applicability

Guide Notices

Testimony and Other Policy Related Communications

The Policy applies to any manuscript1that :

  • Is peer-reviewed;
  • And, is accepted for publication in a journal2 on or after April 7, 20083;
  • And, arises from:
    • Any direct funding4 from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 or beyond, or;
    • Any direct funding from an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008, or;
    • Any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program, or;
    • An NIH employee.

1 Until further notice, manuscripts written in scripts other than Latin (e.g., Russian, Japanese) cannot be processed by the NIHMS . These manuscripts are not required to be posted on PubMed Central and do not require evidence of compliance on applications, proposals or reports. The NIHMS continues to process manuscripts written in Latin (Roman) script that contain characters and fonts used in standard mathematical notation.

2 See the FAQ for the full definition of a journal.

3 Authors may submit final peer-reviewed manuscripts accepted before April 7, 2008 that arise from NIH funds, if they have the right or permission to do so.

4 "Directly" funded means costs that can be identified specifically with a particular sponsored project, or that can be directly assigned to such activities relatively easily with a high degree of accuracy. When awardees list a publication in the progress report publication list of an RPPR or a renewal application, they are claiming that the publication directly arises from that award and the awardee is responsible for the public access compliance of the listed publications.

For Institutional Training, Career Development, and Related Awards(T15, T32/TL1, T34/TL4, T35, T90, R25/RL5, R90/RL9, K12/KM1/KL2, D43, D71, DP7, U2R, U45): Trainee, scholar, and participant publications fall under the public access policy if the publication resulted from work conducted while the individual was supported by the award (i.e., receiving a stipend or salary from the award). See NOT-OD-15-091 for more information.

For publications arising from shared resources, see NOT-OD-16-079 .

Guide Notices

Date

Notice

Details

November 3, 2017

 NOT-OD-18-011

Statement on Article Publication Resulting from NIH Funded Research

  • To protect the credibility of published research, authors are encouraged to publish papersarising from NIH-funded research in reputable journals.

March 24, 2016

NOT-OD-16-079

Reporting Instructions for Publications Supported by Shared Resources inResearch Performance Progress Reports (RPPR) and Renewal Applications

  • Clarifies public access reporting requirements for publications arising from shared resources.

May 25, 2015

NOT-OD-15-091

Clarifying Publication Reporting Instructions for Research PerformanceProgress Reports (RPPR) and Renewal Applications

  • Clarifies which publications should be included in progress reports and renewal applications forinstitutional training, career development, and related awards.
  • Applies to the following activity codes: T15, T32, TL1, T34, TL4, T35, T90, R25, RL5, R90, RL9,K12, KM1, KL2, D43, D71, DP7, U2R, and U45.

April 10, 2015

NOT-OD-15-090

Reporting Publications in the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

  • Amends instructions for reporting publications in the Research Performance Progress Report(RPPR).
  • Encourages awardees to electronically report any publications found in Table 1 of the RPPR whichwere previously reported using the paper 2590 process or as part of a competing renewalapplication. This transitional, one-time measure to report each publication electronically inthe RPPR ensures that NIH systems can store all appropriate award-publication associations.

February 14, 2013

NOT-OD-13-042

Changes to Public Access Policy Compliance Efforts Apply to All Awardswith Anticipated Start Dates on or after July 1, 2013

  • NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance withthe NIH public access policy .
  • Investigators will need to use My NCBI to enter papers ontoprogress reports.

January 10, 2013

NOT-OD-13-017

eRA Commons Users Can Now Generate a Publications Report for the PHS 2590with My NCBI

  • Announces availability of enhancements to My NCBI to facilitate reporting of publications inpaper progress reports (form PHS 2590).

January 9, 2013

NOT-OD-13-020

Public Access Compliance Monitor: A New Resource for Institutions toTrack Public Access Compliance

  • Announces the release of the Public Access Compliance Monitor (PACM; http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/utils/pacm/ ), a web-based tool that institutions can use totrack compliance of publications that fall under the NIH Public Access Policy.
  • Provides guidance on accessing PACM.

November 16, 2012

NOT-OD-12-160

Upcoming Changes to Public Access Policy Reporting Requirements andRelated NIH Efforts to Enhance Compliance

  • Informs grantees that in Spring, 2013, at the earliest, NIH will delay processing ofnon-competing continuation grant awards if publications arising from that award are not incompliance with the NIH public access policy.
  • Announces changes to My NCBI that improve the workflow and communication between PD/PIs and non-PD/PI authors.
  • All grantees submitting paper PHS 2590 progress reports will be required to provide a My NCBIgenerated PDF list of publications as part of their progress report.

June 10, 2010

NOT-OD-10-103

My NCBI Tool to Replace eRA Commons for Bibliography Management

  • Announces My NCBI Tool - My Bibliography -- for bibliography management
  • Details benefits of integration

October 30, 2009

NOT-OD-10-009

Until further notice, only papers written in Latin script will becollected via the NIH Manuscript Submission System for the NIH Public Access Policy

August 12, 2009

NOT-OD-09-136

Clarification on the Use of an NIHMSID to Indicate Compliance with theNIH Public Access Policy

  • Clarifies the temporary nature of NIHMSIDs for use in reporting by defining the specific periodduring which an NIHMSID may be used to indicate compliance.
  • Defines default publication date used by NIH
  • Reminds awardee institutions of the actions they can take to ensure compliance with the NIHPublic Access Policy.

March 19, 2009

NOT-OD-09-071

The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 Makes the NIH Public Access PolicyPermanent

  • In accordance with Division F Section 217 of PL 111-8 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009), theNIH Public Access Policy ( NOT-OD-08-033 ) is made permanent.

September 23, 2008

NOT-OD-08-119

Reminder Concerning Grantee Compliance with the Public Access Policy andRelated NIH Monitoring Activities

  • Describes NIH Public Access Policy compliance monitoring efforts for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009.
  • Provides reminders concerning grantee demonstration of compliance and the location of citationsfor papers in applications, proposals and progress reports.

January 11, 2008

NOT-OD-08-033

NIH Guide Notice for Public Access

  • Notice of revised policy statement, including specifics of applicability.

Testimony and Other Policy Related Communications

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