Managing Compliance with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have four methods of submitting articles for compliance with the policy.

1. Submission Method A: Publisher submits automatically. See this list of Method A journals that will submit on your behalf.
2. Submission Method B: Publisher submits for fee-based open access. See this list of Method B journals.
3. Submission Method C: Author submits via the NIHMS system. See this list of best practices for Method C.
4. Submission Method D: Publisher starts process, author completes. See this list of best practices for Method D.

If using the NIHMS system (ie, you are depositing your article instead of the publisher), the NIH has provided helpful tutorials to help guide you through the publication submission process. See their tutorial page here: http://nihms.nih.gov/db/sub.cgi?page=stepbystep and an NIHMS online guide here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK3845/

• To check the compliance status of your publications, first you need to make sure you have a My NCBI account.
   
  • There is a comprehensive guide to My NCBI on the NIH site here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK3843/
     
  • This account can be linked to an eRA Commons account.
     
  • Use the My NCBI "My Bibliography" feature to manage compliance. There is a helpful tutorial on the NIH website here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53595/#mybibliography.Checking_your_Publication
     
• The PMCID or the NIHMS ID can be used to show compliance.
   
  • The PMCID can be found by checking your publication in the My Bibliography section of My NCBI, or by searching for the publication in PubMed.
     
  • The NIHMS number can be found in the My Bibliography section of My NCBI if the publication has been submitted, but has not yet finished going through the Pub Med process.

• NIHMS: How to Submit Your Manuscript

  A 4.5 minute video demonstrating the steps for submitting a manuscript to the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).
   
• Submitting an Article to PubMed Central

  12 minute step-by-step video.
   
• Approving Submission of an Article to PubMed Central

  A 6.5 minute video demonstrating author tasks needed to complete the submission process for a final peer-reviewed manuscript that the publisher has deposited in the NIH Manuscript Submission System.

• NIHMS online helpdesk
• NCBI helpdesk
• My NCBI Setup
• eRA Commons helpdesk