NIH Public Access Policy

As of May 2, 2005, the National Institutes of Health issued its “Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research” (known as the NIH Public Access Policy). The policy requests that all NIH-funded investigators submit to PubMed Central (PMC) an electronic version of the author’s final manuscript, upon acceptance for publication. This policy applies to any journal articles resulting from research supported in whole or in part with direct costs from NIH. The manuscript is defined as the final version accepted for journal publication and includes all modifications from the publishing peer review process.

The NIH sees this policy as a mechanism to help them not only monitor and archive the output of research funded by NIH, but also ensure the availability of research results for the benefit of the public, health care providers, educators, and scientists.

To assist in understanding this policy the Medical Library has created a web page with information about the Public Access Policy and guides to help you through the process.