NIH Data Sharing Policy

The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that published results supported by NIH research are available to the general public. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. The Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

In 2017, the NIH released further guidance indicating the preprints and other interim research products may be cited in NIH grants in order to speed the science communication and reduce paywall barriers to important research. Preprints are complete and public drafts of scientific documents, not yet certified by peer review. There are other citable research products included in this policy, a list of examples is included below.

• Preprints published on servers like BioRxiv, MedRxiv, Open Science Framework (OSF), and others.
• Protocols created with permanent identifiers on platforms such as Protocols.io and BioProtocol.
• Code and software with permanent identifiers created and shared on platforms like Zenodo or OSF.
• Data publications in data repositories (see our guide on this area)

(source: NIH)

• Determine Applicability
  • Does the NIH Public Access Policy apply to your paper?
  • The Policy applies to any manuscript that:
    • Is peer-reviewed;
    • And, is accepted for publication in a journal on or after April 7, 2008;
    • And, arises from:
      • Any direct funding from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 or beyond, or;
      • Any direct funding from an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008, or;
      • Any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program, or;
      • An NIH employee
• Address Copyright
  • Ensure your publishing agreement allows the paper to be posted to PubMed Central in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
    • Before you sign a publication agreement or similar copyright transfer agreement, make sure that the agreement allows the paper to be posted to PubMed Central (PMC) in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
  • Final, peer-reviewed manuscripts must be posted to the NIHMS upon acceptance for publication, and be made publicly available on PMC no later than 12 months after the official date of publication.
• Submit Paper
  • Ensure that your papers are submitted to PubMed Central and approved for public release. See "How to Submit" for more details.
• Include PMCID in Citations
  • Include the PMCID at the end of the full citation in your application or report. See "How to Cite" for more details.

There are four methods to ensure that an applicable paper is submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. Authors may use whichever method is most appropriate for them and consistent with their publishing agreement. See NIH's Submission Methods table to see which method works best for you.

Method A: Publish in a journal that deposits all final published articles in PubMed Central (PMC) without author involvement.

Some journals automatically deposit all NIH-funded final published articles in PubMed Central, to be made publicly available within 12 months of publication, without author involvement. If your journal is on this list they will complete a submission to PubMed Center on your behalf.

Method B: Make arrangements to have the publisher deposit a specific final published article in PubMed Central.

Some publishers will deposit an individual final published article in PubMed Central, generally for a fee. If you have paid an open access fee, check this page to see if your publisher has an agreement with PMC to deposit open access articles, and contact your publisher for more information.

Method C: Deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript in PubMed Central yourself via the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).

Submitting a final peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central (PMC) via the NIHMS involves three tasks, as explained below. Task 1 may be done by an author or by someone in the author’s organization (e.g., an assistant). Tasks 2 and 3 must by done by the author.

See Steps For Completing Method C below for the online submission process.

Method D: Complete the submission process for a final peer-reviewed manuscript that the publisher has deposited in the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).

In a variation of Method C, some publishers deposit the manuscript files in the NIHMS, provide contact information for a corresponding author, and designate when the paper may be made publicly available in PMC. Look for a checkbox or opt-in agreement for this service when submitting your article to the journal.

The NIHMS will notify the author when the manuscript files are received from the publisher.  At that point, the author must complete all of the tasks outlined for Method C, except for the file deposit part of Task 1 above. If the author 

For further details, see the NIHMS submission tutorial.

1. Include the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) at the end of citations.

For papers published more than 3 months before an application, proposal, and report are submitted:
List the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) at the end of the full journal citation for the paper in NIH applications, proposals, and reports.  A PMCID is the only way to demonstrate compliance for these papers.  

For papers in press, or published within 3 months of when an application, proposal, or report is submitted:

• When using Submission Method A or B, indicate “PMC Journal - In Process” or the PMCID at the end of the full citation.
• When using Submission Method C or D, provide a valid NIH Manuscript Submission System reference number (NIHMSID) or PMCID at the end of the full citation. (Note: NIH awardees are responsible for ensuring that all steps of the NIHMS submission process are complete within three months of publication.)

2. Place the Literature Citations in the appropriate location.

The appropriate locations for literature citations vary depending on the application type.  See the Guide Notice NOT-OD-08-119 for details.