Policies Affecting Researchers with NIH Funding

NIH Public Access Policy

  • This mandatory policy exists to insure public access to the published results of NIH-funded research. It requires researchers to submit to PubMed Central peer-reviewed publications accepted  that arise, in whole or in part, from NIH funding. (See also frequently asked questions at the NIH website.)

  • This policy applies to you if any of the following are true:

    • You are directly funded by an NIH grant or cooperative agreement
    • You are directly funded by the NIH Intramural Program
    • The peer-reviewed manuscripts arose directly from your NIH-funded project, even if you are not an author or co-author of the paper

  • Steps you need to follow to comply with the policy:

    • Make sure that your copyright transfer agreement with the journal publisher allows for submission to NIH's PubMed Central. See resources below for assistance with copyright agreements.
    • Submit the article to PubMed Central through the NIH Manuscript Submission system. You can do this yourself, or it can be done by a third-party or by the publisher. You may wish to contact nihgroup@uci.edu for guidance. You may find useful information, as well, at the website of the journal's publisher.
    •   When you submit an NIH application, proposal or progress report, you must include PubMed Central reference numbers for articles cited that arose from your NIH-funded research (and that fall under the public access policy). PubMed Central references are added to the end of the standard citation in this format: "PMCID: 243493."  Provide reference numbers to your PUBMED Central Articles when you submit NIH proposals.

 

Registration of NIH-Funded Clinical Trials

    • All NIH-funded clinical trials must be registered at  www.clinicatrials.gov. Please visit this website for more information regarding this requirement.