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NIH Public Access Policy

This Guide provides detailed information about the NIH Public Access Policy.

PMCIDs & PMIDs

Proof of Compliance

A PMCID is the only acceptable proof of compliance. PMCIDs and PMIDs are different identifiers. A PMID cannot be used as proof of compliance with the Policy. Please see Reporting Publications to the NIH for an explanation of the differences between these identifiers. 

 

Compliance Status

Check Compliance Status

Authors can check the compliance status of publications anytime by accessing their My Bibliography. Each citation with associated funding will display a compliance status tag. Compliance status tags include:

Green  Compliant and complete; has a PMCID
Red  Non-compliant or not defined; does not have a PMCID
Blue  Newly submitted to NIHMS and in process; does not have a PMCID, but has a NIHMS article ID number (which can be used for provisional compliance reporting)
Gray  Not applicable and exempt from the policy

Manage Compliance 

Authors can manage the compliance status for non-compliant publications by clicking the Edit Status link in the color-coded status tag next to the citation. Follow the prompts to submit the paper to the NIHMS system, provide a NIHMS ID, confirm that compliance arrangements have been made with the journal, or identify the paper as exempt from the Policy. 

PMCIDs

Find PMCIDs

My Bibliography The PMCID appears at the end of a publication citation. A user's eRA Commons account must be linked to their My NCBI account for publications to update with a PMCID.
PubMed Central 

The PMCID appears on an article's Abstract page near the top right side of the page. 
PubMed The PMCID appears on a citation's Abstract page just beneath the affiliation information. 

No PMCID 

If the paper has been published, but no PMCID is associated with it, it is likely because the paper has not been submitted to PMC (either by the journal or author) or it is stalled in the NIHMS system. 

In these cases:

  • If the paper is published in a journal that submits to PMC on the author's behalf, contact the journal. 
  • If the paper is published in a journal that does not submit to PMC on the author's behalf, initiate the submission process via the NIHMS system.
  • If the paper is stalled in the NIHMS system, the designated Reviewer must log into the system and provide approvals of the submission to complete its processing.