As of May 25, 2008, anyone submitting an application, proposal or report to the NIH must include the PMC reference number (PMCID) when citing applicable papers that they author or that arise from their NIH-funded research.
Include the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) at the end of citations when submitting an NIH application, proposal or report.
For papers published more than 3 months before the application, proposal or report is submitted:
For papers in press, or published within 3 months of when an application, proposal or report is submitted:
Place the Literature Citations in the appropriate location.
The appropriate locations for literature citations vary depending on the application type. See the Guide Notice NOT-OD-08-119 for details.
The PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) is different from the PubMed reference number (PMID). PubMed Central is an index of full-text papers, while PubMed is an index of abstracts. The PMCID links to full-text papers in PubMed Central, while the PMID links to abstracts in PubMed. PMIDs have nothing to do with the NIH Public Access Policy.