NIH Public Access Policy
NIHMS Submission
To comply with the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy, the peer-reviewed, author-accepted manuscript must be deposited in PubMed Central (PMC). Manuscripts are submitted to PMC through the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS) and may be deposited by the author, a designated delegate, or the journal or publisher.
The NIHMS submission is a multi-step process and is a critical component of ensuring compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
Details coming soon.
PMC-participating journal: will submit to all articles or NIH funded articles to PMC on behalf of the author
- Will need to submit without embargo to comply, OR
- Need to allow author rights to self-deposit to PMC without embargo to comply
Selective deposit: commonly a hybrid model that can arrange for journal to deposit article to PMC with an Open Access option
If there is any embargo for the journal to upload to PMC you will need to submit the manuscript yourself after it’s been peer-reviewed and immediately upon its acceptance for publication.
- Do not wait until the journal publishes your article as this can sometimes be in an issue several months after acceptance.
If the journal is PMC-participating and submits without embargo you do not need to do anything. Recommend ensuring PMCID is added to citation once uploaded.
If there is no agreement for the journal to submit to PMC ensure you retain the rights to self-deposit immediately and upload to PMC after the manuscripts been peer-reviewed and immediately upon its acceptance for publication.
Sign in using https://login.gov/ to ensure your account is linked to your eRA commons profile.
Follow these 6 steps to ensure a successful deposit. Delays may occur while waiting for approvals.
1. Deposit Files: Anyone can submit; however, an author or PI should serve as the Reviewer. Reviewers are notified of submissions via email.
2. Initial Approval: The Reviewer associates funding and approves the material for processing.
3. NIHMS Conversion: NIHMS converts complete deposits to PMC-ready documents and notifies the Reviewer via email when they are available.
4. Final Approval: Reviewer requests corrections to or approves PMC-ready documents for inclusion in PMC.
5. PMCID Assigned: A PMCID is assigned when Final Approval is complete and the manuscript is matched to a PubMed record.
6. Available in PMC: Manuscript is made available in PMC following the publisher-required embargo period (if applicable).
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