Keeping Your Copyright
For publications affected by the NIH Public Access policy, your publication agreement or copyright transfer agreement must permit deposition of your accepted peer-reviewed manuscript (not the print-ready copy) in PubMed Central through the NIH Manuscript Submission system.
NIH provides the following sample copyright agreement language
"Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for Journal publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by Journal."
If your publisher participates in PubMed Central, the publisher will submit the manuscript on your behalf. As with any third-party submission, you will still be required to verify the submission and confirm the appropriate grant(s) assignment. See NIH Journal Depositors List.
NIH advises authors to work with the publisher before any rights are transferred to ensure that "all conditions of the NIH Public Access Policy can be met". NIH cautions authors to "avoid signing any agreements with publishers that do not allow the author to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy." (NIH FAQ #c2) See SHERPA RoMEO for a summary of permissions publishers' copyright transfer agreements.
Check SHERPA RoMEO
If your publisher will not accept NIH mandated archiving, contact a member of our Scholarly Communications & Publishing Subgroup to work with your publisher.
Questions?
If you have questions about a publication or copyright transfer agreement, or a particular publisher's policy with respect to the NIH public-access policy, please contact Dorothea Salo. Contact Julie Schneider, Ebling Library, with general questions about the NIH public-access policy.