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Research Guides@Tufts

NIH Public Access Policy

Tufts Hirsh Health Sciences Library's guide to complying with the NIH Public Access Policy.

The Policy

NIH Public Access Policy
As of April 7, 2008, all articles arising from U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) funds must be submitted to PMC (PubMed Central) upon acceptance for publication.

With this Notice, NIH informed grantees that starting in Spring 2013, NIH will delay processing of non-competing continuation grant awards if publications arising from those awards are not in compliance with the policy until they demonstrate compliance.

Does this law apply to me?
The NIH Public Access Policy applies to all peer-reviewed journal articles, including research reports and reviews, if the article is based on work in one or more of the following categories:

  1. Directly funded by an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 (October 1, 2007- September 30, 2008) or beyond, including K-awards and training grants
  2. Directly funded by a contract signed on or after April 7, 2008
  3. Directly funded by the NIH Intramural Program
  4. You are an NIH employee

The policy does not apply to non-peer-reviewed materials, and correspondence, book chapters, and editorials.

What is PMC?
PMC serves as a digital counterpart to the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) print journal collection; it is a repository for journal literature deposited by participating publishers, as well as for author manuscripts that have been submitted in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy and similar policies of other research funding agencies.  Access to the material in PMC is free, but use of the material is still subject to the copyright and/or related license terms of the respective authors or publishers.

Additional Information

NIH Public Access Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • quick answers to specific questions about the NIH Public Access Policy.

Manuscript Submissions in support of the NIH Public Access Policy 

  • Video overview by NLM of the NIH Public Access Policy

Tufts Support

Scholarly Communication Team

  • assists with copyright and author rights questions

Office of the Vice Provost of Research

  • assigns eRA commons accounts
  • ensures compliance with federal and state regulations surrounding grants and contracts
  • promotes and provides related services to researchers at Tufts to help advance research and to improve the research environment

Office of Proposal Development

  • collaborates with Tufts faculty on the development of grant proposals, focusing primarily on multi-investigator proposals, including institutional training grants, center grants, and infrastructure- and capacity-building grants
  • offers resources to help faculty and graduate students develop their grant writing skills and to identify sources of funding for research and scholarly activities

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