Libraries

Funder Public Access Policies: NIH

This guide provides information and resources on federal research funding agencies' public access policies as outlined in the 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy Public Access Directive.

NIH Public Access Policy Overview

The National Institutes of Health has the longest-standing Public Access Policy for a U.S. federal research-funding agency (policy established 2008), and served as a model for many other policies when the OSTP directed other federal funding agencies to develop public access plans in early 2013. The NIH is a major source of funding for KU Research.

In short, the NIH Public Access Policy is an open access mandate requiring that research papers describing research funded by the National Institutes of Health must be available to the public for free through PubMed Central within 12 months of publication. Failure to comply with this mandate can jeopardize continued and future funding.

NIH Scientific Data Sharing

NIH has issued a new Data Management and Sharing policy, effective January 25, 2023. This policy promotes data sharing in order to accelerate biomedical research. Researchers and institutions are expected to:

  • Plan and budget for data management and sharing
  • Submit a Data Management and Sharing Plan with each funding application
  • Comply with approved Data Management and Sharing Plans

Further information to assist KU researchers with understanding the new requirements is available at KU Libraries' NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy guide. NIH's comprehensive guidance on the new policy is available at sharing.nih.gov.

NIH indicates that it anticipates no changes to its new Data Management and Sharing policy as a result of the 2022 OSTP memo on public access to the results of federally-funded research.

Compliance Resources

Versions:

  • The Published version is the article as it appears in the journal when published.  
  • Final Peer-Reviewed Manuscript version—also known as the author's final draft, author’s accepted manuscript or post-print—is the author’s version of the draft document that incorporates peer review suggestions. It often a Microsoft Word document that has the same content as the published version, but lacks the typesetting and page numbering of the published version. 

Compliance and Submission Resources:

NIH Public Access is the home page for the NIH Public Access Policy.
 
NIH Submission Methods contains a table illustrating the four different methods used to comply with the NIH mandate and specific instructions for each method.
 
Journals that can submit articles on behalf of researchers (Method A) lists journals that can deposit the published version of articles directly to PubMed Central without the author's involvement. Pay close attention to the starting date. If the article was published before that date, contact the publisher to see if they can deposit or if you need to do so.
 
Publishers that Will Deposit a Specific Paper in PubMed Central on Request (Methods B and D) lists those publishers that will deposit work for an author, sometimes for a fee. See "Journal and Publisher Information" below for a resource that will help if you don't know who published a journal.
 
Journal and Publisher Information The SHERPA/RoMEO database contains information about publisher policies on open sharing, including NIH compliance. It is searchable by journal title or by publisher. It is an easy way to see who publishes a particular journal, as well as links to publisher and journal websites with contact information that might be needed as you work your way through the compliance process.

Head, Scholarly Communication & Copyright

Data Services Librarian

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Jamene Brooks-Kieffer
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