The NIH Public Access Policy (or “Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research”) requires that the full text of articles derived from work funded by NIH grants be made freely available to the public via PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. Furthermore, all applications, proposals and progress reports to the NIH must include PubMed Central or NIH Manuscript Submission reference numbers when citing applicable articles accepted for publication after April 7, 2008.

Librarians at the Health Sciences Library can help you comply with the policy and its reporting requirements. For example, we can advise or assist you with:

• Submitting your NIH Manuscript to PubMed Central via the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) System
  • NIM Manuscript Submission System
• Determining if the journal you are publishing with already deposits the final published version of your NIH-funded paper for you – without author involvement
  • Journal submission method list
• Negotiating your copyrights with the journal publisher to ensure that you can comply with the NIH Public Access Policy
  • for more information watch Columbia University's Copyright Office Director Kenny Crews talk about copyright agreements
• Figuring out who to contact if you inadvertently signed an author agreement with a journal that does not permit submission to PubMed Central
  • for more information see the Columbia University Library Copyright Advisory Office
• Tracking down copyright permissions from publishers that may no longer exist under the same name
• Finding out the PMCID (PubMed Central reference number) that you are required to include when citing your NIH-funded papers in NIH applications, proposals or progress reports
  • PMID - PMCID Converter

For a detailed overview of the submission process, please see the Scholarly Communication Program, part of the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, Columbia University Libraries.