NIH Public Access Policy Compliance

The diagram below depicts the overall process involved in the NIH Public Access Policy. It illustrates what systems are involved and the interactions between those systems. The steps a PI/author needs to take are illustrated, with those that are typically problematic highlighted in red.

Diagram courtesy of Duke Medical Center Library and Archives.

1. Address copyright
   Before you sign a publication agreement, make sure that the agreement allows the paper to be posted to PubMed Central in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
2. Submit paper to NIH (see the four submission methods)
3. Include PMCID in citations
   Anyone submitting an application, proposal or report to the NIH must include the PMCID when citing applicable papers that they author or that arise from their NIH-funded research.

• PI and all co-authors must sign a non-exclusive copyright license before grant submission
  • Signed during pre-awards process
• License allows UNM to comply with policy in the event that PI does not comply
• Author retains all other rights
• License expires when NIH obligations are met

Feel free to make a copy or re-use this page as long as you credit UNM HSLIC.

This guide was created by a Health Sciences Library and Informatics Center staff member and is licensed by the Health Science Library and Informatics Center of the University of New Mexico under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License. 

With credit to Rita Sieracki at the Medical College of Wisconsin Libraries and staff at the Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives for providing the bulk of the content in this guide.