The following are sample questions from the WU community about the NIH Public Access Policy. For more questions related to the NIH Public Access Policy, please see the NIH Public Access Frequently Asked Questions.

• Compliance
• Manuscripts
• Securing the Right to Comply
• Submittal Process
• Approval Process
• PMCID
• General

Compliance

When do I need to comply? Does it apply to me?

Compliance is tied to current NIH funding as of FY 2008 (or beyond), and the date of acceptance of the publication. Compliance is required under the following scenarios:

• Manuscript generated by NIH FY 2008 (or beyond) grant or cooperative agreement and accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008
• Manuscript generated by a continuing NIH grant or cooperative agreement that is active in FY2008 (or beyond) and accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008
• Manuscript generated by NIH contract awarded after April 7, 2008

• Chart: When do NIH-Funded Authors Need to Comply? (PDF)

I generated data in a FY2008 NIH grant and it is now 2010 and my grant is no longer current but I am publishing a paper that includes this data. Do I still need to comply with the policy?

The activity or research took place during the FY2008 grant period. The NIH Public Access Policy applies to all peer-reviewed journal articles that arise from the NIH intramural program or any amount of direct costs funded by NIH, regardless of the source or amount of other funding.

I am a T32 funded for FY2008 and have additional sources of grant funding including some from NSF – do I still need to comply?

The NIH Public Access Policy applies to all peer-reviewed journal articles that arise from the NIH intramural program or any amount of direct costs funded by NIH, regardless of the source or amount of other funding.

My journal publisher makes the final published version available on the journal web site. Is this compliance?

No.

I’m in the process of submitting a manuscript that was a part of my dissertation at XYZ University. All of the data used in my manuscript was collected and analyzed at XYZ University in 2006. I wrote the manuscript while being funded under a FY2008 T32 grant. Do I need to comply with NIH Public Access Policy?

Yes.

 

Compliance Scenario:

Dr. Smith is working off of an industry sponsored grant to conduct clinical research of an investigative drug. As part of the research plan Dr. Smith uses the services of the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) Laboratory which is a core facility that is funded by the NIH and is located on campus. Dr. Smith uses some of his industry sponsored grant funding to pay the CMR lab for the Doppler echocardiograms he needs as part of his research. Dr. Smith then publishes the results of his INDUSTRY sponsored research as an article in a leading research journal.

Answer:

If a manuscript arises from direct funds from or any other NIH funding, which is the case with Dr. Smith, his/her manuscript may fall under the NIH Public Access Policy.

To what papers does the NIH Public Access Policy apply?

The Policy applies to any manuscript that:

• Is peer-reviewed;
• And, is accepted for publication in a journal on or after April 7, 2008;
• And, arises from:
  • Any direct funding* from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008, or;
  • Any direct funding from an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008, or;
  • Any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program, or;
• An NIH employee.

* “Directly” funded means costs that can be specifically identified with a particular project or activity. See NIH Grants Policy Statement, Rev. 12/2003

Please note, authors may submit final peer-reviewed manuscripts accepted before April 7, 2008 that arise from NIH funds, if they have appropriate copyright permission.

Should you need additional assistance and/or clarification, please contact John Michnowicz, Director, Grants and Contracts.

Manuscripts

What publications fall under the policy?

The Policy applies to all peer-reviewed journal articles, including research reports and reviews. The Policy does not apply to non-peer-reviewed materials such as correspondence, book chapters, and editorials.

I wrote a chapter for a series. Does this apply?

The Policy applies to all peer-reviewed journal articles, including research reports and reviews. The Policy does not apply to non-peer-reviewed materials such as correspondence, book chapters, and editorials.

What is the meaning of: “submit an electronic version of the final, peer-reviewed manuscript upon acceptance for publication”? Specifically, do they want the typescript (which is the only version which exists at the time of acceptance), or an electronic version of the reprint?

NIH defines the final peer reviewed manuscript as the Investigator’s final manuscript of a peer-reviewed article accepted for journal publication, including all modifications from the peer review process.

Can I submit the galley proof instead of my peer-reviewed manuscript?

No.

Securing the Right to Comply

How do I confirm the right to comply?

The first step for compliance is to check the NIH Journal List. There are many journal publishers that cooperate with NIH and submit the final published version to PMC on behalf of authors. If authors publish in one of these journals, no further action is required for compliance except to cite the PMCID reference number in future NIH applications, proposals and progress reports.

If the journal is not on the NIH Journal List:

• Review the publisher copyright agreement form.
• Review the “Instructions for Authors” or “NIH Public Access Policy Information” sections on the journal web site.

If there is no clause on the publisher copyright agreement form or information on the journal web site, contact the journal publisher or Editor in Chief of the journal and ask for clarification of their policies for NIH-funded authors as per NIH Public Access Policy.

Submittal Process

Can I request direct costs to pay for a person on my staff to deal with compliance with the policy and third party submitter services? Will NIH allow this as a direct cost?

This is an administrative support function, so it is not generally allowable for direct costs.

Can I note multiple grant numbers on a single submission?

Yes. Articles can be assigned multiple NIH award numbers during submission. They can also be linked to an award electronically via the Commons when completing an electronic Progress Report, or listed as arising from any NIH award in writing when submitting an application, proposal or progress report.

Can the PI appoint anyone to act as a third party submitter?

Yes.

If there are multiple institutions collaborating on an NIH funded project with multiple PIs involved, which PI should be assigned as the corresponding PI?

It is up to the PIs of each institution to decide – it does not matter who is assigned as the corresponding PI.

There are multiple NIH awards funded in FY2008 with multiple PIs. A manuscript generated from research funded by these awards was accepted for publication after April 7, 2008. Which PI should be designated as the corresponding PI in order to approve the submission? Does it matter which award the corresponding PI is affiliated with?

It does not matter which PI is appointed as the corresponding PI, nor does it matter which award the corresponding PI is affiliated with as long as the manuscript is submitted and a PI approves.

Approval Process

Will I get an email from my eRA Commons account asking me to approve a submission even if the journal submits this?

Yes. If the publisher submits:

The PI will receive two emails from NIHMS.

1. “Approve PDF Receipt.” The PI will be prompted to review the PDF to verify that it is the correct manuscript and enter the grant information. NIHMS will convert the PDF to a version suitable for viewing on the web.
2. “Approve Web Version.” The PI will be prompted to do a final review before posting to PMC.

NIHMS will send reminder emails to PIs if emails are unanswered. PIs must approve these submissions in order to ensure full compliance with the revised NIH Public Access Policy.

Note: PIs will be prompted by NIHMS to create an eRA Commons account if there is none for that PI.

If there are multiple institutions collaborating on an NIH funded project and one PI is assigned as the corresponding PI, will the other PIs be able to view the submitted manuscript generated from that project in their NIHMS manuscript list via eRA Commons account?

No, only the corresponding PI will be able to view the submission activity related to the manuscript and approve the submissions.

PMCID

Where can I find my PMCID reference number?

The PMCID reference number can be found in PubMed and PubMed Central.

In PubMed:

Here is a sample PubMed record using the “Summary” display. Note that this display notes the PMID which is a unique identifier number assigned to each publication as it is added to PubMed. This is not the same as the PMCID.

 

 

Once on the AbstractPlus display, you will find the PMCID under the citation/abstract on the right side.

 

 

• For more information see How to Locate and Cite the PMCID

Does the PMCID need to be noted in the literature cited section and the publication list?

As of May 25, 2008, NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports must include the PubMed Central reference number when citing an article that falls under the policy and is authored or co-authored by the investigator, or arose from the investigator’s NIH award. This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.

This includes the literature cited section, the publication list and any other document where citations are noted.

How should the PMCID be cited?

Varmus H, Klausner R, Zerhouni E, Acharya T, Daar A, Singer P. 2003. PUBLIC HEALTH: Grand Challenges in Global Health. Science 302(5644): 398-399. PMCID: 243493

What should I do if there is no PMCID number?

The NIH Manuscript Submission System reference number (NIHMS ID) should be cited instead if there is no PMCID reference number available yet. The NIHMS ID is the reference number used by PMC until a PMCID reference number is assigned at the end of the quality assurance process. The NIHMS ID reference number is available via the NIHMS system. NIH-funded authors can locate the NIHMS ID by accessing their eRA Commons account.

What should I do if there is no PMCID or NIHMS ID reference numbers?

Cite as “PMCID pending.”

Note as of April 28, 2008:
NIH has reported that there may be delay in assigning a PMCID to articles submitted from journals that participate with NIH. NIH is requesting that these citations be noted as “PMC Journal – In Process” until the PMCID is available.

Is it possible to download the PMCID directly to Reference Manager or Endnote?

Yes. The PMCID is noted in the field tag of the Medline display: PMC. The PubMed filter can be modified to include the PMC tag and import the data to bibliographic citation software.

For more details, see:

• How to Locate and Cite the PMCID
• PMCIDs Display in PubMed AbstractPlus
• Modifying EndNote to Include the PMCID

When does the PMCID reference number get assigned?

The PMCID is assigned after PMC performs its last set of quality assurance checks and after the PI has completed the approval process.

Is citing the PMCID reference number retroactive? Do I have to go back and submit all my previously published NIH-funded publications to get a PMCID in order to comply with the NIH Policy?

No. Citing the PMCID is required only for those articles that fall under the revised NIH Public Access Policy.

General

Can I submit works to PMC that predate the NIH policy, even from before 2005? Meaning, if I published a manuscript in 2001 can I submit this to PMC?

If the author has retained the right to comply, or if the publisher grants permission to do so, or if the author is a governmental employee, then previously published works may be submitted to PMC.

Are all NIH-funded publications added to PubMed Central also being indexed in MEDLINE regardless of journal indexing status?

Yes. These publications are noted with: [PubMed - author manuscript in PMC]

Does NIH reimburse direct costs related to article processing fees or open access fees?

Yes. The NIH will reimburse publication costs, including author fees, for grants and contracts on three conditions: (1) such costs incurred are actual, allowable, and reasonable to advance the objectives of the award; (2) costs are charged consistently regardless of the source of support; (3) all other applicable rules on allowability of costs are met.