May 2008
To: Deans, Directors, Department Chairs and Faculty
From: Alice M. Clark, Vice Chancellor, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
Re: New NIH Public Access Policy
As a result of legislation passed by the federal government in the Fiscal Year 2008 consolidated appropriations bill, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently issued a new Public Access Policy for peer-reviewed publications. NIH has made compliance with the new policy mandatory for the university and for authors of NIH funded peer-reviewed journal articles. To assist UM authors and investigators in interpreting and complying with the new policy, the ORSP offers the following information which provides an overview of the policy and a three-step process of ensuring compliance.
This policy applies to NIH funded peer-reviewed journal articles that are based on work that meets one or more of the following criteria:
- Work that is directly funded in any part by an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in federal Fiscal Year 2008 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008) or beyond; or
- Work that is directly funded in any part by an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008; or
- Work that is directly funded in any part by the NIH Intramural Program; or
- If the NIH pays any portion of your salary.
This policy does not apply to non-peer-reviewed submissions such as correspondence, book chapters and editorials.
More information can be found at http://publicaccess.nih.gov.
About the NIH Public Access Policy
What Does the Law Require of UM Authors and Investigators?
October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008 — All final, peer-reviewed articles resulting from NIH funded grants or cooperative agreements active during federal fiscal year 2008 and beyond must be submitted to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication and become freely available to the public within 12 months of formal publication.
April 7, 2008 — All final, peer-reviewed articles resulting from NIH funded contracts signed on or after April 7, 2008 must be submitted to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication and become freely available to the public within 12 months of formal publication.
May 25, 2008 — All NIH applications, proposals and progress reports with a date of May 25, 2008 or later must include the PubMed Central identification number when citing an article that falls under the NIH Public Access Policy and is authored or co-authored by the investigator or arose from the investigator’s NIH award.
How Do You Comply?
Before you submit an article for publication, make sure that the journal allows the article to be submitted to PubMed Central in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
Submit an electronic copy of the final, accepted article to PubMed Central at http://www.nihms.nih.gov.
- Some journals will automatically submit articles to PubMed Central for you. For a list of those journals, see http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm.
- If the chosen journal is not on the list, then the author must submit an electronic copy of the final, accepted article to PubMed Central.
Cite the article in NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports and include the PubMed Central identification number. Example:
Zerhouni , A.B. (2008) A New Vision for the National Institutes of Health. Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology (3), 159-160. PMCID: 123456
Need More Information?
For NIH information related to the Public Access Policy, see the following Web site links:
For questions specific to policy compliance at UM, contact Dr. Robin Buchannon, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs, at x7482 or email to rcb ( at ) olemiss ( dot )edu.