Sherpa/Romeo: This site has many publishers' policies regarding depositing papers in PubMed Central.
Detailed walkthroughs with screenshots are available in PDF form for the following functions:
Detailed walkthroughs with screenshots are available in PDF form for the following functions:
As soon as the manuscript is accepted for publication, the PMC deposit process should begin.
Submit paper/manuscript to PMC and approve public release. There are FOUR METHODS to ensure that an applicable paper is submitted to PMC in compliance with Policy. Authors should use the most appropriate method and be consistent with their publishing agreement.
Method A: Publish in a journal that deposits all final published articles in PMC without author involvement.
Some journals automatically deposit all NIH-funded final published articles in PMC, to be made available within 12 months of publication, without author involvement. There is no fee for this service. If an author publishes in one of these journals, no further action is required for compliance except that the author is responsible for citing the PMCID reference number in future NIH applications, proposals and progress reports.
Method B: Make arrangement to have the publisher deposit a specific final published article in PMC.
Some publishers will deposit an author's final published article in PMC upon their request. These journals do not automatically deposit every NIH-funded paper. Rather, the author can arrange with the journal for the deposit of a specific article; this usually involves choosing the journal's fee-based open access option for publishing the article. It is the author's responsibility to make appropriate arrangements with the publisher for this service via that publisher's copyright agreement form. If the author exercises this option than no further action is required for compliance except to cite the PMCID reference number in future NIH applications, proposals and progress reports.
Method C: Deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript in PMC yourself via the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).
Some publishers allow authors to self-submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript to NIHMS, then NIHMS prepares the manuscript for posting to PMC. Authors who exercise this option must retain the right to do so. When reviewing the publisher's copyright agreement form, the author should ensure that the publisher will:
* Allow the author to self-submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript upon acceptance of publication.
* Allow the final peer-reviewed manuscript to be publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication. If you are ensure of this publication date, please contact
If this is not apparent, authors are encouraged to seek clarification from the publisher. They can also decide to publish in a different journal in order to be in full compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
Submitting a final peer-reviwed manuscript to PMC via the NIHMS involves three tasks:
1. Deposit manuscript files and link to NIH funding
2. Authorize NIH to Process the Manuscript (authors receive an email seeking approval)
3. Approve the PMC-formatted manuscript for public display
Before self-submitting, authors will need to find out the stipulations that the journal publisher requries authors to follow. These stipulations can usually be found in the publisher's copyright agreement form and include items such as: embargo period, which version to post, whether or not to include the Digital Object Identifier (DOI), and whether to link to the final published version on journal website.
IMPORTANT NOTE: NIH awardees are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are submitted to the NIHMS upon acceptance for publication and that all NIHMS tasks are completed within three months of publication. The NIHMS will email the author and all PIs the citation with the PMCID once it is assigned; PMC will automatically make the paper publicly available after the designated delay period has expired.
Authors (or someone they delegate) can submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript (not the final published version) to the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS). Submitting to NIHMS is the only way an author can submit manuscripts to be added into PMC, if the journal publisher doesn't deposit it for them.
NIHMS provides a number of great tutorials and and FAQ page to help you get started using the system.
**NIHMSIDs will become invalid three months after a paper is published.
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*Embargo Period - a specific amount of time determined by the Publisher before the full text of a manuscript can be accessed by the public without paying for it.
