Public Access Policy

NIH requirements

Public Access Policy Guidelines

The NIH Public Access Policy requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. Papers must be accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

The policy covers any manuscript that meets the following conditions:

  • It was peer-reviewed
  • It was accepted for publication in a journal on or after April 7, 2008 It arose from:
    • any direct funding from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in FY 2008 or beyond, or
    • any direct funding from an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008, or
    • any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program

For step-by-step instructions about how to bring your publication into compliance, please go to the NIH site, which covers these topics:

  • Applicability of NIH Public Access Policy
  • Copyright
  • Submitting a paper to PubMed Central (PMC)
  • Including PMCID in citations

Investigators can use My NCBI to check the compliance status of their publications and to initiate the compliance process.