Scholarly Communication Update: New NIH Public Access Policy
The Department of Health and Human Services has revised its public access policy regarding publications resulting from research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to make it mandatory; the revised policy took effect on April 7, 2008.
This change requires all investigators funded by the NIH to submit to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an electronic version of final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than twelve months after the official date of publication. The mandatory policy applies to all peer-reviewed articles that are accepted for publication after April 7.
Because it is the responsibility of both institutions and individuals to comply, the UC Office of Research Administration has sent a memo providing guidance to contract and grant officers on all campuses. Attached to the memo is a letter signed by William Tucker, executive director in the UC Office of Technology Transfer and Research Administration, which should be enclosed with any articles submitted to publishers for possible publication; the letter notifies the publisher that the research in the manuscript was funded by the NIH and that UC will be following the NIH public access policy if it is accepted for publication. Authors of these articles must ensure that any copyright transfer agreements they sign with commercial publishers fully comply with this policy.
The UCLA Library is working with the UCLA Office of Research Policy and Compliance to assist faculty with the implementation of this new policy. If you have questions about modifying authors' agreements, email the eScholarship coordinator.
