NIH Public Access Policy and You: Troubleshooting
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Browsing Troubleshooting Content
Use the Troubleshooting Navigation Menu in the left column to browse and select relevant troubleshooting topics.
How do I link my myNCBI and eRA Commons accounts?
I can’t see the “Awards View” in my My NCBI account. What do I do?
If the awards view is not showing, it is possible that your myNCBI account and eRA Commons accounts are not linked. Follow the instructions on how to link your accounts. If this does not work, you will need to contact the NCBI Help Desk to determine the cause of the problem.
MyNCBI will not allow me to designate a delegate. What do I do?
If you are still not able to add a delegate, contact the NCBI Help Desk for assistance.
I am not able to approve my manuscript submission receipt in NIHMS system. What do I do?
If you cannot see the manuscript when you log-in to your account, make sure you have logged into the NIHMS system via the correct log-in route (See Login to the NIHMS System).
You can also contact the NIHMS Help Desk if you have any issues with manuscript approval.
How can I add citations to My Bibliography in My NCBI?
If the citations are in PubMed, you can add them directly to My NCBI from PubMed.
If the citations are not in PubMed, you can add them to My NCBI manually.
I added citations to My Bibliography manually, but the system is not allowing me to attach grants to them. What do I do?
Contact the NCBI Help Desk for help with this error.
My publication is out of compliance, but I don't have the final, peer-reviewed manuscript files to submit. What can I do?
The NIH Policy experts recommend you contact the journal and request permission to upload the final published article (i.e. the PDF available on the journal website). Once you have the rights, you can upload this version to the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS). Contact the NIH Public Access Policy Help Desk if you have further questions.
Why is my publication showing as non-compliant? The paper was just published recently and I thought I had 12 months to submit it!
The NIH Public Access policy stipulates that publications must be made available to the public in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. However, this does not mean that you have 12 months to submit your publications. Articles should be submitted upon acceptance for publication in order to ensure that all submission tasks are completed within 3 months of the official publication date. If you need to cite your publication on a progress report, you will need to use the PMCID or appropriate substitute to demonstrate your compliance with the Public Access Policy, even if the article was recently published (See Show Compliance page in this guide).
My journal wants me to pay a fee to submit my paper to PubMed Central. Do I have to pay?
You never have to pay the fee to the publisher to get your articles into PMC. You always have the option to deposit the article yourself, using Method C.
Is it possible to assign a delegate to my eRA Commons account?
Yes, a PI can assign delegates in eRA Commons. This is independent of the delegate function in My NCBI. For further details, consult this information on eRA Commons delegates.
Don't see your question in this list?
If your question is not addressed here, please use our Ask-a-Librarian service to submit your question, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. We are adding to the Troubleshooting section of this guide as we receive questions from our users. You can also visit the Help page of this guide for information on how to contact the NIH, NCBI, eRA Commons, and NIHMS experts.
