NIH Public Access Policy : Resolving Non-Compliant Publications

NIH requirements for public access to scholarly articles published as a result of NIH awards, with help for UCSF researchers.

• Policy Overview & Contacts
• Submitting Papers to PubMed Central - Methods A-D
• Resolving Non-Compliant Publications
  • Check PubMed
  • Lookup Status in NIHMS (Methods C & D)
  • Contact Publisher or Deposit Manuscript (All Methods)
  • Publisher Contacts
  • Sample Language for Contacting Publishers

  PMCID is what you need

  The PubMed Central Identifier number - PMCID - is the indicator that the article is compliant with the NIH Public Access Policy. Once this ID is assigned, the article becomes and remains compliant.

  Helpful Links

  Check PubMed

  Verify whether PubMed shows a PMCID for the paper. Note that PubMed and PubMed Central are different databases with completely separate numbering systems:

  

  If the PMCID is not present below the Abstract and no awards are listed under Grant Support, it's likely that compliance steps have not been completed:

  • Use the PubMed record to help you figure out the publisher.
  • Determine which Method (A, B, C or D) the journal follows for getting into PMC, then follow the steps below.

  If the PMCID is present, check that the paper is listed in My Bibliography and has a "complete" compliance status.

  Lookup Status in NIHMS (Methods C & D)

  Since the vast majority of papers get processed in NIHMS, it's good practice to search a paper's status here. You don't have to be associated with a manuscript to view its status in NIHMS, though you do need at least a My NCBI account to log in.

  1. Login to NIHMS with your eRA Commons or My NCBI account.
  2. Search the paper by PMID or NIHMSID.
  3. If found, you'll see a summary record indicating the current status and the Reviewer. Use the NIHMS Glossary (search under Status) to interpret the status.
  4. Have the Reviewer complete any outstanding steps for this method.
  5. Assure that the award(s) is associated with the publication and that the paper appears on the PI's My Bibliography for reporting purposes.
  6. If no record is found, then the manuscript submission has most likely not been started. Either contact the publisher to deposit the final manuscript (Method D) or have one of the authors deposit it (Method C). See below for publisher contacts and sample language.
     - Manually-created records in My Bibliography must be linked up to the PMID or DOI in order for the compliance status to display in the PubMed citation.

  Methods A and B papers occasionally get deposited in NIHMS by mistake. Simply complete the manuscript approval process as you would for Methods C & D. Or, contact the NIHMS Help Desk to delete a NIHMS duplicate of the publisher's deposit.

  Contact Publisher or Deposit Manuscript (All Methods)

  If the article is in a Method A journal, or published as paid open access with a Method B publisher but still not in PMC, contact the publisher to ask them to deposit your specific article into PMC so that you can get a PMCID. Follow the sample language below. You must also associate your award to the publication in My Bibliography.

  Articles published as paid open access (OA) but not in a Method B journal can follow the steps for Method C. Articles published under a Creative Commons OA license (CC BY) allow re-use of the final publisher's PDF. Deposit this version in NIHMS,

  For Method D publishers, send an email to the publisher asking them to deposit the final manuscript in NIHMS. See publisher contacts and sample language below. See all steps for this method. Follow Method C if the publisher does not support post-publication deposit into NIHMS.

  Method C articles - any author on the paper can deposit the final accepted manuscript into NIHMS and complete the approvals. See all steps for this method.

  Publisher Contacts

  Who to contact from the journal or publisher? Generally a production or manuscript manager, or editorial contact can help you deposit the manuscript post-publication. You can find this information on the journal's web page - look under "about" or "contact". The author(s) might also have a good contact from email correspondence about their manuscript.

  Search the Sherpa/Romeo database to find a journal or publisher's policy on posting open versions and for public release embargo periods.

  Selected publisher policies and contacts. All are Method D unless noted:

  AAAS (Method C or D): policy statement

  • Authors may submit the accepted version of manuscript in NIHMS for release six months after publication

  APPI (American Psychiatric Association): policy

  BMJ (Method C): policy statement

  Karger: policy | look for contact on specific journal webpage

  Nature Publishing Group: Manuscript Deposition Service

  • NPG instructs authors to self-deposit the manuscript into NIHMS if deposit doesn't happen as part of the submission/acceptance process. Set the release date to six months after publication.

  LWW/Kluwer: policy example | look for contact on specific journal webpage

  Oxford (Method A): Policy | contact journal editorial office if no PMCID after 12 months

  RSC (Royal Society of Chemistry): Policy (under Repositories) | RSC1@rsc.org

  Wiley: policy statement | look for contact on specific journal webpage

  Sample Language for Contacting Publishers

  Replace the information in [brackets] with the specifics for your article(s) and publisher. If you have a manuscript number from the publisher's submission system, include it in your letter.

  Single article, Method A or Method B journal:

  Dear [Journal Author Support],

  I am contacting you to request that you deposit an article published in one of your journals into PubMed Central (PMC). The paper falls under the NIH Public Access Policy and is currently out of compliance with this policy. This is resulting in funding being held up for the award that funded the underlying research. In order to meet compliance, the final published article needs to be deposited into PMC. According to NIH's guidelines for [Method A journals / Method B publishers], [SAGE] deposits the final publisher version of articles published in [Reproductive Sciences] into PMC on behalf of authors.

  Please deposit the following article to PMC at your earliest convenience:

  [Herndon CN, Aghajanova L, Balayan S, Erikson D, Barragan F, Goldfien G, Vo KC, Hawkins S, Giudice LC. Global Transcriptome Abnormalities of the Eutopic Endometrium From Women With Adenomyosis. Reprod Sci. 2016 Oct;23(10):1289-303. doi: 10.1177/1933719116650758. Epub 2016 May 27. PubMed PMID: 27233751.]

  Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to your response.

  Single article, Method D journal:

  Dear [AACR Author Support],

  I am contacting you to request that you deposit the final manuscript for a paper published in one of your journals into PubMed Central (PMC). The paper falls under the NIH Public Access Policy and is currently out of compliance with the policy. This is resulting in funding being held up for the award that funded the underlying research. In order to meet compliance, the final manuscript needs to first be deposited into NIH’s Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS). According to [AACR’s NIH Policy Statement at https://aacrjournals.org/pages/open-access, AACR] will deposit the manuscript on the author’s behalf.

  Please deposit the manuscript to NIHMS for the following paper at your earliest convenience:

  [Netanya I. Pollock, Jennifer R. Grandis, HER2 as a Therapeutic Target in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Clin Cancer Res, Feb 2015 (21) (3) 526-533; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-14-1432]

  Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to your response.

  Multiple articles, Method D journal:

  Dear [Elsevier Author Support],

  I am contacting you to request that you deposit the final manuscripts for the following papers published in one or more of your journals into PubMed Central (PMC). The papers fall under the NIH Public Access Policy and are currently out of compliance with this policy. This is resulting in funding being held up for the award that funded the underlying research.

  In order to meet compliance, the final manuscripts need to first be deposited into NIH’s Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS). According to [Elsevier’s NIH Policy Statement at https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/funding-arrangements/nih/pmc-terms-and-conditions, Elsevier] will deposit manuscripts on the author’s behalf.

  Please deposit the manuscripts to NIHMS for the following papers at your earliest convenience:

  [Takashi Tsukamoto, José M. Matés, Francisco J. Alonso, Chunmei Wang, Youngho Seo, Xin Chen, J. Michael Bishop, The Metabolic Profile of Tumors Depends on Both the Responsible Genetic Lesion and Tissue Type, Cell Metabolism, Volume 15, Issue 2, 8 February 2012, Pages 157-170, ISSN 1550-4131, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2011.12.015.]

  [Marta Margeta-Mitrovic, Yuh Nung Jan, Lily Yeh Jan, A Trafficking Checkpoint Controls GABAB Receptor Heterodimerization, Neuron, Volume 27, Issue 1, July 2000, Pages 97-106, ISSN 0896-6273, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0896-6273(00)00012-X.]

  Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to your response.