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NIH Public Access Policy
The NIH Public Access Policy (the Policy) requires all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central (PMC) an electronic version of their peer-reviewed manuscripts upon the official date of publication. The Policy applies to any manuscript that:
- is peer-reviewed;
- is accepted for publication in a journal on or after July 1, 2025;
- arises from any direct funding from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement in FY 2008 and beyond, or any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program, or an NIH employee.
The Policy only applies to peer-reviewed manuscripts. It does not apply to other research output, like editorials, book chapters, conference papers, etc.
Proof of Compliance
A PubMed Central ID (PMCID) is the only acceptable proof of a manuscript’s compliance with the Policy. This unique identification number is assigned to a manuscript once it is successfully submitted to and processed by PMC.
Steps to Compliance
Choosing a Journal
Review your target journal’s Funder Compliance policies. Many journals only enable compliance through open access publishing options. These options usually require payment of Article Processing Charges (APCs).
The library has established several open access agreements which provide a discount or waiver of APCs for MD Anderson corresponding authors. Learn more about these discounts.
Journal Submission
Make the journal aware of NIH funding by providing the grant number and recipient name during the submission process. If you have questions about citing the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG), please email ccsg@mdanderson.org.
Acceptance of Publication
Confirm with your journal how your manuscript will be deposited to PMC. Be aware that some journals require authors to deposit their manuscripts to PMC via the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS). Please see the next section for information on this process.
NIHMS Submission
The NIHMS system is a platform that facilitates Methods C and D submissions to PMC in support of the Policy. If one of these methods is required for your manuscript, watch this short video to understand the NIHMS submission process.
NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS): Deposit and Initial Approval
This video, from the National Library of Medicine, is a demonstration of the NIH manuscript submission process.
Quick Video (6:14)
- Faculty/Investigators: Sign into the NIHMS system via eRA Commons. Use this login route each time you access the NIHMS system. Manuscripts are linked to the account by which you accessed the system.
- Administrative Support Staff: Sign into the NIHMS system via the All Login Options. Please see this FAQ for next steps. Use this login route each time you access the NIHMS system. Manuscripts are linked to the account by which you accessed the system.
More Information
Get detailed information and answers to frequently asked questions from the NIH and its partners, and the Research Medical Library.