Dear Extramural Research Community,

The purpose of this notice is to share with you some of the benefits of the
NIH Public Access Policy and to describe the simple process by which
Principal Investigators (PIs) and authors can now submit their peer reviewed
final manuscripts to NIH's PubMed Central (PMC) at http://nihms.nih.gov/ .

A number of PIs have already submitted manuscripts and papers.  For others
to enjoy the benefits of the Policy, please follow the submission process
outlined below.  Through submission, PIs can fulfill the existing requirement to provide publications as part of progress reports, and integrate manuscripts into the tools of PMC thereby increasing the visibility of your research and enhancing the likelihood of early and increased citation.

For more information about the NIH Public Access Policy, please visit:
http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/ .

For details about the submission process, see below or view the Public
Access Policy Authors' Manual at  http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/publicaccess_Manual.htm . We welcome comments and suggestions about the submission process. Please contact us at PublicAccess@nih.gov mailto:PublicAccess@nih.gov  .

We look forward to your participation and wish you continued success in your
research endeavors.

Sincerely,

Norka Ruiz Bravo, Ph.D.                                     Jo Anne Goodnight
Deputy Dir. for Extramural Research                  Acting Director,
Office of the Director                                         Office of Extramural Programs
National Institutes of Health                             Office of the Director
                                                                          National Institutes of Health


National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Policy on Enhancing Public Access to
Archived Publications Resulting from NIH Funded Research (Public Access Policy).

What does the policy say?

How do authors submit their manuscripts?

How will authors benefit from submitting their full text articles to PMC?

Resources

What does the policy say?

The Policy requests and strongly encourages all NIH funded investigators to
make their peer reviewed author final manuscripts available to other
researchers and the public at the NIH National Library of Medicine's (NLM)
PubMed Central (PMC) (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov) immediately
after the final date of journal publication. Authors are given the option to release
their manuscripts at a later time, up to 12 months after the official date of
final publication. NIH expects that only in limited cases will authors deem
it necessary to select the longest delay period.

NIH is requesting that authors submit manuscripts resulting from 1)
currently funded NIH research projects or 2) previously supported NIH
research projects accepted for publication on or after May 2, 2005. The
Policy applies to all research grant and career development award
mechanisms, cooperative agreements, contracts, Institutional and Individual
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards, as well as NIH
intramural research studies. The Policy applies to peer reviewed, original
research publications that have been supported in whole or in part with
direct costs from NIH, but it does not apply to book chapters, editorials,
reviews, or conference proceedings. Publications resulting from
non NIH supported research projects should not be submitted.

How do authors submit their manuscripts?

* Go to the NIH manuscript submission (NIHMS) system
http://www.nihms.nih.gov/.

* Select the appropriate login option (Note: the same login should be
used for all subsequent visits to the NIHMS system):

* NIH extramural investigators select "eRA Commons" (see "What is the
NIH eRA Commons?" in the Authors' Manual
(http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/publicaccess_Manual.htm).

* NIH intramural employees select "NIH."

* Provide basic information, including the journal title, PI, contact
information, and associated NIH award number(s).

* Upload the complete text of your manuscript(s). The NIHMS supports a
wide variety of file types (MS Word, Word Perfect, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel,
etc.).

* Upload any corresponding, supplemental image files that contain
figures, tables, or supplementary information along with the manuscript.
Just as provided to publishing journals, submit high resolution images to
ensure that they can be viewed properly in PMC. Any supplemental material
submitted to the accepting journal in support of the manuscript will be
accepted also. The NIHMS will generate a receipt of the uploaded files in
PDF format. The PDF receipt summarizes the information entered into the
system and merges the manuscript's files into one viewable document.

* Confirm that the manuscript and any additional supporting documents
have been successfully received by NIHMS, and verify the document.

* Review and approve the Submission Statement and specify the timing
of posting of the final manuscript for public accessibility through PMC
(this must be completed by the PI). Authors and/or their institutions should
ensure that their final manuscript submissions to PMC are consistent with
any other agreements, including copyright assignments that they may have
made with publishers or other third parties. Upon approval of the submission
by the PI, the manuscript will be converted into XML   the standardized
digital format used by PMC.

* Review the XML manuscript as it will appear in PMC once the
conversion has taken place (PIs will be notified by e mail when the document
is ready for review) and correct any errors, if necessary. After PI
approval, the article will be publicly accessible through PMC after the
time delay specified by the PI.

How will authors benefit from submitting their full text articles to PMC?

By submitting their peer reviewed manuscripts, authors will enjoy several
benefits of the Policy. First, PIs and institutions can use the manuscript
submission as an alternative means to fulfill the existing requirement to
provide publications as part of progress reports. Current NIH grants policy
for progress reporting requires that one copy of each publication not
previously submitted, including manuscripts submitted or accepted for
publication, be provided to NIH. Beginning with progress reports submitted
August 1, 2005 (i.e., progress report submissions for Fiscal Year 2006
funding), a reference to the PMC submission identification number may be
included in progress reports in lieu of submitting a hard copy of the
publication. If this method of submission is chosen by the grantee, this
will replace the hard copy submission for any "published" or "accepted for
publication" manuscripts. Please note that other aspects of annual Progress
Reporting cannot be completed through the NIHMS system. Those materials must be submitted through the normal Progress Report submission process.

Second, by adding their manuscripts to PMC, authors benefit from the modern
information technology tools already available (e.g., PubMed, GenBank,
Genome Map Viewer, Molecular Database, MedlinePlus, Clinical Trials,
Taxonomy, Small Molecules (PubChem), DNA, Protein Sequences, and Protein
Structures, etc.) that are being used currently with thousands of full text
articles already submitted by 178 journals. These tools will help scientists
explore information across scientific fields or within narrow topical areas.
This data mining and cross linking of information should lead to new lines
of research, as well as more comprehensive approaches to understanding the
diverse and ever expanding amounts and types of scientific data.

Lastly, authors have the ability to ensure timely public access to their
research manuscripts. Once their manuscripts are electronically available to
the public and researchers through PMC, authors benefit from higher
visibility of their research. In addition, publishers can submit the full
text journal article and any publisher links to the article or article
corrections for posting on PMC.


Resources

*  Public Access Policy Website:
    http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/

*  NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) System:  http://www.nihms.nih.gov/

*  Public Access Policy in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts:
    http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice files/NOT OD 05 022.html

*  Implementation Plan:
    http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/publicaccess_imp.htm

*  Questions and Answers:
    http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/publicaccess_QandA.htm

*  Public Access Policy Mailbox:  PublicAccess@nih.gov