NIH Public Access Policy
What is the NIH Public Access Policy?
The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research.
How do I comply with this policy?
Any publications (published after April 7th, 2008) that are the result of NIH funding must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication.
When preparing a grant application, all cited publications (that were published after April 7th, 2008) must include a Pubmed central number (PMCID#) in the citation.
Including Pubmed information in grant applications
Pubmed numbers must be included for all citations if they:
- were published after April 7th, 2008
- are the result of the PI/co-PI's NIH-funded research
Pubmed numbers must be included in the following sections that require citations:
- biosketches - in section B, peer-reviewed publications
- references/ literature cited section
- publication list for renewals (competing continuation) or revisions (competing suppliments). This is section 7 of the research plan.
Include a pubmed central ID number in the citation. This is the PMCID number not the PMID number. Please note the difference between the two in the image below.
If you have the PMID number, you can use this handy tool to find the PMCID. However, this tool will not create a PMCID number if one does not exist.