Researchers with NIH funding may be subject to new mandate The Library of the Health Sciences and the Chester Fritz Library encourage faculty, staff and students to become familiar with the recently adopted NIH public access policy http://publicaccess.nih.gov/policy.htm. This policy will impact anyone who intends to publish research resulting from recently received NIH grants. The purpose of the policy is to ensure that the public has access to the final, peer-reviewed, published results of NIH-funded research. It requires that any articles accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008, be accessible to the public on PubMed Central http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/. The NIH Public Access Web site http://publicaccess.nih.gov/ is available to facilitate the process. This mandate results from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764) signed Dec. 26, 2007, which directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide public access to its funded research. It requires researchers funded by NIH to deposit articles on PubMed Central http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/. Scientists may submit their articles directly or publishers may perform the submission. The articles must be available to the public within 12 months of publication. Each article will then be given a unique PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) and will be available for anyone to read. As of May 25, 2008, researchers need to include the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) when citing an article in NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports that fall under the policy. This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008, due date and subsequent due dates. The Public Access Frequently Asked Questions located at: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/FAQ.htm is very helpful in providing more information. In addition, there are two resources that may assist researchers with potential copyright issues resulting from deposition of the articles. One is called Complying with the National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy: Copyright Considerations and Options and is available at: http://www.arl.org/sparc/bm%7Edoc/NIH_Copyright_v1.pdf It includes a list of publishers and their current policies regarding deposit to PMC. The other is a recent webcast exploring the legal aspects of author rights management within the context of the new policy. It is archived and available free of charge at: http://www.arl.org/sc/implement/nih/webcast/ If you have further questions about the NIH Public Access Policy, please e-mail PublicAccess@nih.gov directly, or contact campus library staff. Call the Library of the Health Sciences reference desk at 701-777-3994, Judy Rieke, 777-4129 or jrieke@medicine.nodak.edu. At the Chester Fritz Library, contact Mary Drewes at 777-4648 or e-mail marydrewes@mail.und.edu. -- Judy Rieke, Assistant Director and Collection Management Librarian, Library of the Health Sciences, jrieke@medicine.nodak.edu, 701-777-4129