NIH Public Access Policy

If you receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), you may be subject to the NIH Public Access Policy. This policy requires that NIH-funded researchers submit a copy of their refereed journal articles to PubMed Central (PMC) upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after publication. 

If you receive NIH funding and prepare an article for publication, you should:

  • Notify the journal that the article is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy upon submission.
  • Verify that you reserve the right to send the manuscript to PMC in any publication agreements related to the article that you sign.
  • Submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript to PMC upon your article's acceptance. (See the NIH Public Access website for a list of publishers who will submit the final published version of your paper for you.)
  • Include the identification numbers (called "PMCIDs") for articles resulting from your NIH grants and that are subject to the Public Access Policy in your next submission to NIH.

Completing these steps will help make your article widely available for readers and researchers and may enhance the influence of your research.

Who Must Comply

Any researcher with published peer-reviewed articles resulting from NIH funding must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. The principal investigator (PI) has overall responsibility to assure compliance with this policy, whether or not the PI is an author on the article in question.

Publications Subject to the Requirement

The policy applies to the final manuscript of any peer-reviewed publications–such as journal articles, research reports, and reviews–that result from NIH funding, regardless of the amount of funding.

You are not required to submit works to PMC that are not peer reviewed, such as correspondence, book chapters, and editorials.

Notifying Your Publisher

You must retain retain sufficient rights to your work to be able to submit your articles to PMC. You should make prospective publishers aware at the earliest stages that your article is subject to the NIH policy. In your cover letter of submission to a journal, include a statement such as the following:

"This article is based on funding from the National Institutes of Health and therefore is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy. Acceptance of this article for publication will be conditioned on the journal publisher's agreement to terms permitting compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy."

If you are submitting your article electronically, you may include the same statement and provide a link to this website.

Publication Agreement Amendments

You should not sign any publication agreement related to articles subject to the NIH Public Access Policy unless you are certain that the agreement complies with the policy. (The same advice applies to electronic click-through agreements that may be part of the journal's manuscript submission system.)

To clarify which rights you wish to retain, you can attach an amendment to your publication agreement.

Keep a Copy of Your Publication Agreement

Many future questions about your compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy, and about the use of your article, will be answered by the terms of the agreement you sign. Please review the terms of all of your agreements carefully. Be sure to keep a copy of all publication agreements in your permanent files.

Submitting Your Article to PubMed Central

Once you have retained sufficient rights to submit your article to PMC, you must make sure the submission process is completed. The steps required to submit your article are determined by the nature of your agreement with the publisher.

  • See the NIH's description of the different possible scenarios for submitting an article.
  • Read the FAQ on the PMC website.

Why the PMCID Is Important

The PMCID that you receive upon completing your submission to PMC is a necessary citation in your submissions to NIH. The PMCID is not the same as the PubMed Reference number (PMID).

The reference number is needed in NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports. This requirement applies not only to articles that you authored or co-authored, but also to articles you cite that are written by someone else whose research was funded by your NIH award. If a PMCID is not yet available, the NIH Manuscript Submission system reference number (NIHMSID) must be included instead. 

Resources at Columbia

The following offices at Columbia can help you comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.

Copyright Advisory Office  This office can answer questions about publisher agreements and other copyright issues.

Sponsored Projects Administration  The SPA provides assistance with grant applications.

Office of Research Compliance and Training  Contact this office if you have other questions and comments about the NIH Public Access Policy.

Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library  The library's website has an information page on the NIH Public Access Policy.