MIDLINE

Submitted by Merle Rosenzweig, Anna Ercoli Schnitzer, Mark MacEachern, and Chrysta Meadowbrooke
University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries, Ann Arbor, MI

Many health sciences librarians and the researchers they work with have questions about the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy, which went into effect April 2008. We felt that this issue is a hot topic in research and that it's important for all librarians who work with NIH-funded researchers to know how to help them comply with the policy's requirements.

Our poster, "Providing Vital Support to Facilitate the New NIH Public Access Mandate," explained the policy and described the support services provided by the University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries. Many people visiting the table engaged us in lively conversation about the issue of public access.

Under the Public Access Policy, the final peer-reviewed manuscripts of all journal articles resulting from NIH-funded research must be submitted to PubMed Central within 12 months of publication. This policy ensures that the public can freely obtain the results of such research and is also intended to help advance science and improve human health. (For details on the NIH policy, see http://publicaccess.nih.gov/.)

A pilot program developed through the University of Michigan MLibrary helps researchers comply with the policy by:

1. Providing support via suggested addendums to publication contracts so that authors retain at least the right to have a copy of the peer-reviewed manuscript deposited in PubMed Central


2. Helping authors determine whether a journal will submit the manuscript to PubMed Central directly; if not, librarians can submit on the authors' behalf after receiving some basic information, the manuscript, and any supplemental data or images


3. Showing how to obtain and cite the PubMed Central identification number (PMCID), which researchers must now use when referring to an NIH-funded paper in all NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports