Michael Ladisch
Research and Learning
Scholarly Communications Officer
530-752-6385
The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central (PMC) upon acceptance for publication. To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PMC no later than 12 months after publication.
Overview of NIH Public Access Policy (video) from UCD Publishing Symposium, October 2017
Determine if the policy applies to your paper;
Process for submitting papers to PubMed Central (PMC);
Correctly cite papers in applications and reports;
Link your My NCBI and eRA Commons accounts;
Use My Bibliography to track your publications
For additional information please see
NIH Public Access Policy website
The NIH Public Access Policy Does NOT Apply to the Following:
If you don’t know the acceptance date
If you are trying to go back and ensure older articles are compliant, it can be difficult to determine when an article was accepted for publication and if the Policy applies to the paper. Below are some strategies for figuring this out and what to do with the citation in My Bibliography.
If you have a copy of the journal agreement in your files or email from your publisher, check when your manuscript was ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION (not when it was submitted or when it was published)
If you cannot find the agreement, search for a copy of the article:
Cannot find the acceptance date in the PDF of the article?
For all of the above:
Relate Resources
There are 4 submission methods:
Method A
Journal deposits final published articles in PubMed Central without author involvement
Method B
Author asks publisher to deposit specific final published article in PMC
Method C
Author deposits final peer-reviewed manuscript in PMC via the NIHMS
Method D
Author completes submission of final peer-reviewed manuscript deposited by publisher in the NIHMS
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 FAQ page to help you get started using the system.
Have you addressed copyright?
NIH Public Access Policy : Address Copyright
Publisher Policies for NIH-funded Authors
From Simmons College: Useful to determine journal submission methods
Related Resources
When citing applicable papers in any applications, proposals, or reports you submit to the NIH, you must include the PubMed Central ID number (NOT the PubMed ID #)
Over 3 months after publication
Less than 3 months after publication or in-press
Note: This applies to articles for which you are either the PI of the NIH award or an author of the article. It does not apply to article you cite but have no affiliation with.
Related Resources
Screenshot of a record in the PubMed database (note the PubMed logo in the top left corner).
Screenshot of an article in the PubMed Central database (note the PubMed Central (PMC) logo in the top left corner).
NIH detailed instructions for Managing Compliance to the NIH Public Access Policy
Complying with NIH Public Access Policy
The diagram below depicts the overall process involved in the NIH Public Access Policy. It illustrates what systems are involved and the interactions between those systems. The steps a PI/author needs to take are illustrated, with those that are typically problematic highlighted in red.
If the publisher’s policy does not allow deposit, attach this Letter to the_Publisher (pdf) from the UC Office of Technology Transfer. Another option is to modify the publisher’s copyright transfer agreement to retain the right to make the article available in PMC by attaching this NIH Addendum form (pdf). If you are unable to determine if you have permission to submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript to NIHMS, you will need to contact the publisher to ask for permission. We have created a template (below) you can use.
Guidance on How To Cite the UC Davis CTSC Grant
Checklist for Authors
Offers recommended steps related to the NIH Public Access Policy for authors to take from prior to article submission to after publication. Created by the UC Davis CTSC.
Steps for Retroactive Compliance of Works Under the NIH Public Access Policy (with hyperlinks)
Provides guidance for anyone who is working to bring published articles into compliance. Includes hyperlinks to relevant tools and information. Created by Cathy Sarli at Becker Library, with permission.
Submission Methods and Documenting Compliance (with hyperlinks)
Provides a chart of the four different paths for article submission into PMC. Includes hyperlinks to further guidance and tools. Adapted by the UC Davis CTSC from Cathy Sarli at Becker Library, with permission.
University of California Publisher Letter
For research based on NIH funding, this letter may accompany manuscripts at time of submission to publishers.
Overview of NIH Public Access Policy (video)
A videorecording of a presentation on the NIH Public Access Policy from the UCD Publishing Symposium that took place on the UC Davis Health campus in October 2017.
My NCBI is a tool that offers many useful features, including:
Most importantly for anyone awarded NIH funding, My NCBI has a tool named My Bibliography. My Bibliography, allows you to save your citations either directly from PubMed or by manually entering them. Once citations are in My Bibliography you can easily:
My Bibliography: Public Access Compliance (Video)
Principal Investigators and PD’s must use My NCBI’s “My Bibliography” tool to manage their professional bibliographies (as of July 23, 2010, see the full notice here).
If you already
If you do not have a My NCBI Account, you will need to create one.
Go to PubMed
Click on ‘My NCBI Sign In’ in the upper right corner of the screen.
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You can sign in with accounts you already use like Google, your UC Davis login or your NIH eRA Commons account.
If you have never used My NCBI we strongly recommend clicking on ‘Sign in with NIH login’ and logging in with your eRA Commons login to create your account.
Signing in through one of the Partner Organizations will automatically sync your My NCBI Account, so the easiest option to choose is to sign in via your NIH & eRA Commons account.
If you already have a My NCBI Account, you need to link your account to your eRA Commons account.
• From the list of ‘Login Account Options’, scroll down and choose ‘NIH & eRA Commons’ and then log into your eRA Commons account.
If you have problems
If you receive an error message when trying to link accounts you may have linked too many accounts already. You will need to contact NCBI directly to have them manually link your eRA Commons account with your current My NCBI account.
Include in your email the following:
Note you do not need to send any passwords.
There are four options for adding citations to My Bibliography:
Sending PubMed Search Results to My Bibliography
Sign into My NCBI.
Search PubMed to find articles you want to add.
From within a particular article record or the search results, click on the ‘Send to’ drop-down.
Click on ‘My Bibliography’ and then the ‘Add to My Bibliography’ button that appears.
NOTE: You are responsible for ensuring that any NIH funded publication for which you were either an author OR the PI of the grant. This means you may need to include articles for which you were not an author but which were supported by a grant you are a PI on.
Here are the steps for creating a RIS format file from an EndNote Library to be used for uploading citations into an eRA Commons linked MyBibliography account:
1. In style menu, select RefMan (RIS) Export style. If it is not already listed as an option, find it in “Select Another Style.”
2. In EndNote Library menu, select File–>Export, with the following settings:
Save as type: Text File (*.txt)
Export style: RefMan (RIS) Export
3. Rename the *.txt file manually by appending *.ris to the file name
4. Upload the .ris file into NCBI MyBibliography
Use the ‘Delegate’ feature to share the work with others in your lab, assistants, or with librarians.
1. From My Bibliography, click on ‘Edit settings’ for My Bibliography.
2. At the bottom of the page click on the link to ‘Add a Delegate’
3. Enter the email of the person you want to add as a delegate and click the ‘Add Delegate’ button. You can add more than one delegate if necessary.
If you have been assigned to be a delegate for someone’s My Bibliography and that person has already added you as a delegate in their account you can follow the steps below to confirm.
After completing these steps, a link to the delegated bibliography will be listed in your collections in your My NCBI account.
There are four options for adding citations to MyBibliography:
For more guidance about the last three options, see:
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/ma16/ma16_my_ncbi_enhancements.html
Sending PubMed Search Results to My Bibliography
NOTE: You are responsible for ensuring that any NIH funded publication for which you were either an author OR the PI of the grant. This means you may need to include articles for which you were not an author but which were supported by a grant you are a PI on.
Manage Compliance thru My Bibliography
Detailed instructions for Managing Compliance to the NIH Public Access Policy are provided by NIH.
Sections include:
My Bibliography Delegates
Use the ‘Delegates’ feature to share the work with others in your lab or with librarians.
• At the bottom of the page click on the link to ‘Add Delegate’
• Enter the email of the person you want to add as a delegate and click the ‘Add Delegate’ button.
Detailed instructions for Managing Compliance to the NIH Public Access Policy are provided by NIH.
Sections include:
Manage Compliance Through My Bibliography
After adding your citations to your My Bibliography and linking your eRA Commons account, set the Display Settings to the Award View as shown below.
This should then show you your citations with red, yellow, and green dots indicating the status of each citation (see example below).
An article can have one of the following statuses.
Any article with a red ‘Non-compliant’ or question mark, ‘Edit Status’ status needs your attention.
Click on the link associated with those articles (which could be an ‘Edit Status’, an NIHMS ID number, or a ‘Citation not in NIHMS or PMC’ link). The following box will open.
Use the given options to change the status of the citation.
Hints:
You should assign the correct awards to each citation in your My Bibliography.
If you are unable to determine if you have permission to submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript to NIHMS, you will need to contact the publisher to ask for permission. We have created a template you can use.
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 an FAQ page to help you get started using the system, including
Note: If you aren’t sure if you need to or should submit your article to NIHMS, check Does it Apply to your paper?
Note: Email notifications from NIHMS letting authors/PI’s know a submission is ready for approval will come from: nihms-help@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Navigating the NIH Manuscript Submission Process [Video]
This video (9:48) gives you detailed help in submitting, reviewing, and approving your manuscript in the NIHMS (NIH Manuscript Submission) system. The NIHMS supports deposit of manuscripts into PubMed Central (PMC) as required by the public access policies of NIH and other participating funding agencies.
NIHMS login page (and Sign-In Help)
Logging in to NIHMS (may use My NCBI account for third-party login)
Example following using eRA Commons account (may use My NCBI account for third-party login).
NOTE: List ALL NIH Funding that supported the manuscript.
Toll-free: 866-504-9552
Phone: 301-402-7469
Password help: 301-402-7469
For NIHMS login problems, contact eRA Commons.
Contact Info:
Michael Ladisch
Scholarly Communications Officer
mladisch@ucdavis.edu
(530) 752-6385
The UC Davis Department of Internal Medicine Research Administration and Support Unit is offering assistance with the NIH Public Access Policy on a re-charge basis.
Contact: Monique M. Vasquez, monique.vasquez@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu
Q. The journal I published in is listed as a Method D publisher, but it has been 3 months since it was accepted and My Bibliography is telling me it is not compliant (there is no NIHMS or PMC ID number).
A. No matter what method the journal is listed as it is ultimately the author/PI’s responsibility to ensure the article is submitted to PMC. If the journal/publisher has not submitted the article after 3 months following acceptance for publication, contact them and ask why they haven’t. In the meantime, go ahead and submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript to the NIHMS System (instructions). If the publisher does so later, it will over-ride your submission, but this will ensure you are in compliance.
Q. I need to submit to the NIHMS system, but I can’t find the final peer-reviewed manuscript? Can’t I just download the pdf copy from the journals website and submit that?
A. Unfortunately, that would be against copyright law. If you are unable to find the final version of the manuscript (with peer-reviewed edits but not the final copy-editing formats), and none of your co-authors have a copy either, we recommend that you contact the publisher and explain your problem. They may be able to supply a copy that you could use.
Q. I am the PI for a large teaching grant and am not an author on many of the publications that result from that funding. Do I need to include all of those citations and ensure they are compliant?
A. Yes. As the PI you are responsible for ensuring all articles that are directly funded from that grant are compliant, whether or not you are an author.
Q. One of my articles has a NIHMS ID number but has never been added into PMC and is past the 3 month deadline for needing a PMCID number. What is wrong and how can I fix it?
A. This is probably happening because whoever was entered into the NIHMS System as the reviewer has not responded to a request to review and approve the submission. When publishers or delegates submit manuscripts to the NIHMS system they will select an author of PI to receive emails asking for approval of what was submitted. If that person does not receive the email and follow the steps to approve the submission it will never make it into PMC. Check with the PI or your co-authors to see if anyone received any message from NIHMS. Finally, you can request that the responsibility be transferred to you.
Q. I have an article that was published in 2008 that is listed as being non-compliant. Would it not fall under the Policy because it is from 2008? Do I need to do anything?
A. For any article published since 2008 that has been linked to NIH funding, you will need to take some action. For articles published in 2008 it is possible that they were accepted for publication prior to the April 7th date and therefore do not fall under the policy. However, you need to check to confirm the acceptance date; if it does not fall under the policy, you will need to use My Bibliography to edit the status of the citation to notify NIH of the reason why the article does not need to be compliant. See these detailed instructions on how to find acceptance dates and to update the status of a citation.
NCBI and the NIH Public Access Policy: PubMed Central Submissions, My NCBI, My Bibliography and SciENcv
Webinar: NCBI and the NIH Public Access Policy (YouTube)
Outlines how to use My NCBI to report public access policy compliance for NIH grant holders.
Topics include the NIH Public Access Policy, NIHMS and PubMed Central submissions, creating My NCBI accounts, My Bibliography to report compliance to eRA Commons, and SciENcv to create biosketches.
Notice Number: NOT-OD-13-042 For non-competing continuation grant awards with a start date of July 1, 2013 or beyond:
1) NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy.
2) Investigators will need to use My NCBI to enter papers onto progress reports. Papers can be associated electronically using the RPPR, or included in the PHS 2590 using the My NCBI generated PDF report.
Please see NOT-OD-12-160 for more details.
With this Notice, NIH informs grantees that in Spring, 2013, at the earliest, NIH will delay processing of non-competing continuation grant awards if publications arising from that award are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy. The award will not be processed until recipients have demonstrated compliance. This change will take effect in tandem with NIH requiring the use of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPRs) for all Streamlined Non-competing Award Process (SNAP) and Fellowship awards in the Spring of 2013 (see NIH NOT-OD-12-142).
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Notice Number: NOT-OD-10-103
My NCBI Tool to Replace eRA Commons for Bibliography Management
Update: The following update relating to this announcement has been issued:
January 10, 2013 – See Notice NOT-OD-13-017. eRA Commons Users Can Now Generate a Publications Report for the PHS 2590 with My NCBI.
November 16, 2012 – See Notice NOT-OD-12-160. Upcoming Changes to Public Access Policy Reporting Requirements and Related NIH Efforts to Enhance Compliance.
Release Date: June 10, 2010
Issued by National Institutes of Health (NIH), (http://www.nih.gov)
Transition of Bibliography Management to My NCBI
Over the course of their scientific careers, program directors and principal investigators (PD/PIs) create and maintain extensive professional bibliographies, which include publications resulting from or in support of their funded research grants. PD/PIs registered in eRA Commons have been able to use the publications page of their personal profiles in Commons as a repository for their publications. NIH is now providing Commons users with a more efficient, accurate and user-friendly way to manage their professional bibliographies, associate publications with their grant awards, and ensure compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
eRA Commons has partnered with the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to link NCBI’s personal online tool, “My NCBI,” to Commons. My NCBI offers an online portal—“My Bibliography”—for users to maintain and manage a list of all of their authored works, such as journal articles, manuscripts accepted for publication, books, and book chapters. As of April 2010, linking a Commons account to a new or existing My NCBI account allows references saved in My Bibliography to automatically appear in users’ Commons accounts.
As of July 23, 2010, PD/PIs will be unable to enter citations manually into eRA Commons and must use My NCBI’s “My Bibliography” tool to manage their professional bibliographies.
Thanks to Duke University Medical Center and Archives for sharing their NIH Public Access Policy resources with us.
Thanks to Francis Francisco for help with content development and migration.