NIH Public Access Policy and You: Home
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What is the NIH Public Access Policy?
What is it?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy requires that all peer-reviewed publications arising from NIH-funded research must be submitted to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. The Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. The full policy can be found here:http://publicaccess.nih.gov/policy.htm
Two changes to compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy went into effect as of July 1, 2013:
- The NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy.
- Investigators must use My NCBI to enter publications into progress reports.
See NIH Notice NOT-OD-13-042 for more details: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-13-042.html
See NIH Notice NOT-OD-15-091 for more information on using My NCBI for progress reports: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-091.html
How Will The NIH Public Access Policy Affect Me?
How will it affect me?
Starting in July of 2013, the NIH will delay processing of non-competing continuation grant awards if publications arising from the award are not in compliance with the public access policy. The award will not be processed until recipients have demonstrated compliance. Compliance with the Public Access Policy is not a factor in the evaluation of grant applications; non-compliance will be addressed administratively, and may delay or prevent awarding of funds. To determine if the policy applies to you, you may visit: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/determine_applicability.htm
How Do I Comply With The NIH Public Access Policy?
How do I comply?
NIH requires that investigators submit manuscripts upon acceptance for publication. Instructions for doing so can be found on the "Submit When Publishing" page.
If you are trying to demonstrate compliance retrospectively, instructions for doing so can be found on the "Retrospective Submission" page.
If the journal in which you wish to publish will not comply with one of the four submission methods described in this guide, it is the responsibility of the author/awardee to choose a different journal that does comply with the public access policy.
How Do I Monitor My Compliance?
How do I monitor it?
You can monitor compliance for your grant using MyNCBI. A tutorial for how do this can be found on the “Manage Compliance with My NCBI” page.
Related Guides
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NIH BiosketchInformation and resources to help you use the new NIH Biosketch format required for NIH applications submitted on or after May 25, 2015
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Searching PubMed: My NCBI AccountsThis page in the HSL Searching PubMed guide provides information to help you get started with My NCBi as well as resources to learn more.
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ORCID: Open Researcher and Contributor IDDetails the benefits of creating an ORCID, how to create an ORCID iD and link it to your UNC ID, how to populate your ORCID record as well as other key activities include how to import citations from ORCID to a SciENcv-based biosketch, and how to import citations from My NCBI to ORCID.
Notices from the NIH
NIH Notice NOT-OD-15-091: Clarifying Reporting Publication Instructions for Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR) and Renewal Applications (released 5/25/2015)
NIH Notice NOT-OD-15-090: Reporting Publications in the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) (released 4/10/2015)
NIH Notice NOT-OD-13-042: Changes to Public Access Policy Compliance Efforts Apply to All Awards with Anticipated Start Dates on or after July 1, 2013 (released 2/14/2013)
NIH Notice NOT-OD-13-035: NIH Requires Use of RPPR for All SNAP and Fellowship Progress Reports, and Expands RPPR Functionality (released 2/6/2013)
NIH Notice NOT-OD-12-160: Upcoming Changes to Public Access Policy Reporting Requirements and Related NIH Efforts to Enhance Compliance (released 11/16/2012)
