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NIH Public Access Policy Resources

Beginning May 2, 2005, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy requests that researchers funded by NIH submit their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts, which have been accepted for publication, to PubMed Central (PMC). The NIH sees this policy as a mechanism to monitor and archive the output of research funded by NIH and to ensure the availability of research results for the benefit of the public, health care providers, educators, and scientists.

Key Points

  • Requests authors submit publications resulting from currently-funded NIH research projects and previously supported NIH research projects accepted for publication on or after May 2, 2005.
  • Applies to peer-reviewed, original research publications that have been supported in whole or in part with direct funds from NIH.
  • NIH requests authors submit an electronic version of the final manuscript as soon as possible after the final date of journal publication. At the time of submission authors are given the option to release their manuscripts at a later date, up to 12 months.
NIH Public Access Policy

Instructions for Submiting the Manuscript

Copyright Issues
  • The NIH Policy explicitly recognizes and upholds the principles of copyright. Authors and journals can continue to assert copyright in NIH-funded scientific publications, in accordance with current practice. NIH encourages investigators to sign agreements that specifically allow the manuscript to be deposited with NIH for public posting on PubMed Central as soon as possible after journal publication.As an example, the kind of language that an author or institution might add to a copyright agreement includes the following:

    Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to NIH upon acceptance for Journal publication or thereafter, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible after publication by Journal.

  • More Information about Copyright
Further Information

Information for NIH-Funded Researchers from Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) including FAQ by Peter Suber and Copyright Resources for Authors.

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