NIH grantee responsibilities under the new public access policy

In order to increase public access to NIH-funded research, the following PI responsibilities were mandated early in 2008.  Specifically, Principal Investigators are required to submit to PubMed Central within a year of their publication date any papers resulting from at least partial NIH funding.  Here is a bare-bones description of what you, as PI, must do to comply with this regulation.  Additional information can be found at this HSL site.

When preparing a manuscript for publication:

  • Strongly consider submitting your manuscript to a journal that submits articles to PubMed Central.
  • Regardless of where you submit the manuscript, do not sign away your copyright, which may conflict with your ability to deposit your manuscript or final paper.  The Sherpa Web site lists publishers that permit manuscripts or final publications to be archived.  If you wish to publish in a journal that is not on the Sherpa green or blue list, the cover letter accompanying your manuscript should include the phrase that the manuscript "is subject to the NIH PubMed Central submission requirements."
  • If you already have submitted a manuscript for review, you can still retain rights for submission to PubMed Central.  Before signing an agreement to publish the manuscript, insert over your signature "Subject to the attached Addendum" and print out, sign, and attach a document containing the text in blue below.  Make sure that all investigators and any subcontractors supported by your project (regardless of whether you are an author) have done the same, since as PI you are responsible for all resulting publications.

ADDENDUM


Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for Journal publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by Journal.

 


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Author                                                                                      Date

 

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Submitting your publications to PubMed Central.  Within 12 months of publication, archive the final manuscript or final published version (e.g., PDF) of your article at PubMed Central via the ERA Commons.  Again, make sure that all investigators and any subcontractors supported by your project (regardless of whether you are an author) have done the same.  Record the PubMed Central accession number for your publication for future use.

NIH proposals that cite these publications.  When you cite these publications in an NIH proposal or non-competitive renewal, you must include their PubMed Central accession numbers.