NIH Open Access Policy Update

The NIH Public Access Policy will continue to be in effect in 2009 and “thereafter,” according to a provision in the recently approved federal appropriations bill.

“The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require in the current fiscal year and thereafter [emphasis added] that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.”

The NIH Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access requires eligible NIH-funded researchers to deposit electronic copies of their peer-reviewed manuscripts into PubMed Central. Full texts of the articles are then made publicly available online in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication in a journal. Nature reports in its online News section that the “Open-access policy flourishes at NIH,” (April 7, 2009.) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/458690a]

The Dana Medical Library presentation NIH Public Access: Submissions, copyright, and compliance is available for UVM and FAHC audiences. If you would like to schedule this presentation for your own department, lab, or other group please contact Donna.Omalley@uvm.edu. Information from the presentation is also available on the Dana Medical Library web site: NIH Public Access Policy [http://danaguides.uvm.edu/NIHPublicAccess].