MGH Guides: NIH Public Access Policy : Getting Started

Overview

The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH-funded research. It requires scientists to submit the 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 (Source).

NOT-OD-08-033 Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resuliting from NIH Funded Research

Investigators' Responsibilities

"Principal Investigators and their institutions are responsible for ensuring all terms and conditions of awards are met. This includes the submission of final peer-reviewed manuscripts that arise directly from their awards, even if they are not an author or co-author of the paper. Principal Investigators and their institutions should ensure that authors are aware of and comply with the NIH Public Access Policy." -NIH

Policy:

All peer reviewed papers arising from NIH funds must be deposited into PubMed Central upon acceptance of publication.
All NIH applications, proposals and progress reports must include the PubMed Central ID # (PMCID) when citing an article that arose from NIH grant(s).
The NIHMS ID (NIH Manuscript Submission), assigned when the deposit process is started, is only valid for three months post-publication.
NIH requires the use of MyNCBI for managing publications in eSNAP Progress Reports.
When logging into MyNCBI, you will need to use the NIH login option and your eRA Commons Credentials.
The NIH will begin to hold processing of non-competing continuation awards if publications arising from grant awards are not in compliance with the public access policy.