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Managing NIH Public Access Compliance: Methods of Submitting

This guide explains the NIH Public Access Policy, the process for submitting peer-reviewed articles to PubMed Central and how to use NIH tools to manage and verify compliance.

Method A

Journal publisher deposits the published version of all NIH-funded articles in PMC.

Method B

Author asks journal publisher to deposit published version of specific NIH-funded article in PMC. 

Method C

Author submits final peer-reviewed manuscript with tables, etc. to PMC via the NIH Manuscript System (NIHMS).

Method D

Journal publisher submits final peer-reviewed manuscript with tables, etc. to PMC via the NIH Manuscript System (NIHMS). See list of Method D Publishers.

How Method A works

Over 800 Open Access journals will automatically submit the final published article to PubMed Central (PMC).
No author involvement is required.

How Method B works

Author can make arrangements with these publishers to deposit the published version of the article in PMC without further action from the author.

Publishers usually charge a fee for this service. 

Method B Best Practices

How Method C works

Upon author submission to NIHMS, NIHMS emails a PDF Receipt & summary of what has been submitted to the author. Author must confirm submission for processing to begin. The NIHMSID is assigned.

When the processing is complete, the Author will be asked to review and approve the PMC-formatted manuscript

Method C Best Practices

 

How Method D works

NIHMS emails to author a PDF Receipt & summary of what has been submitted. Author must confirm, then the NIHMSID is assigned

Author is notified to review and approve the PMC-formatted manuscript when it’s ready 

See NIHMS Overview Manuscript Submission Process.

Method D Best Practices

Deposit into PubMed Central

PMCID assigned 

NIHMS Deposit and Initial Approval