XVIII. NIH PubMed Central Policy

All Lesley University NIH Principal Investigators are required to ensure that publications derived from research funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) will be submitted to PubMed Central. According to the NIH, "Authors should work with the publisher before any rights are transferred to ensure that all conditions of the NIH Public Access Policy can be met. Authors should avoid signing any agreements with publishers that do not allow the author to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy." The PI should disclose to the publisher upon submission of an article that it is subject to this NIH policy. The journal's author instructions and copyright transfer or publication agreement should be reviewed for any language that may prohibit the PI from complying with submission to PubMed Central. Specific language should appear in the copyright transfer or publication agreement specifically allowing for deposit PMC.

If it does not, an addendum should be attached to the agreement by the PI. NIH recommended language is as follows: "Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for Journal publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by the Journal." Decisions about the approved submission will need to be negotiated with the Publisher. Should the PI require assistance with these negotiations, the Office of Sponsored Projects will be happy to assist.

PI's have four methods appropriate and consistent with the NIH publishing agreement:

1. Publish in a journal that deposits all NIH-funded final published articles in PMC without author involvement.
2. Make arrangements to have a publisher deposit a specific final published article in PMC.
3. Deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript in PMC yourself via the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).
4. Complete the submission process for a final peer reviewed manuscript that the published has deposited via the NIHMS.