LibGuides: NIH Public Access @ UCSD: Submission Methods

How to Submit Your Manuscript

There are four methods to ensure that an applicable paper is submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. See NIH's Submission Methods table to see which method works best for you.

For further details, see the NIHMS submission tutorial.

	Method A Journal deposits final published articles in PubMed Central without author involvement	Method B Author asks publisher to deposit specific final published article in PMC	Method C Author deposits final peer-reviewed manuscript in PMC via the NIHMS	Method D Final peer-reviewed manuscript deposited by publisher - Author responsible for ensuring it is.
Version of Paper Submitted	Final Published Article	Final Published Article	Final Peer-Reviewed Manuscript	Final Peer-Reviewed Manuscript
Task 1: Who starts the deposit process?	Publisher	Publisher	Author or designee, via NIHMS, upon acceptance for publication	Publisher via NIHMS, upon acceptance for publication
Task 2: Who approves paper for processing?	Publisher	Publisher	Author, via NIHMS	Author, via NIHMS
Task 3: Who approves paper for PubMed Central display?	Publisher	Publisher	Author, via NIHMS	Author, via NIHMS
Participating journal/publisher	Method A Journals	Make arrangements with these publishers	Check publishing agreement	Make arrangements with these publishers
Who is Responsible?	NIH Awardee	NIH Awardee	NIH Awardee	NIH Awardee
To cite papers, from acceptance for publication to 3 months post publication	PMCID or “PMC Journal- In Process”	PMCID or “PMC Journal- In Process”	PMCID or NIHMSID	PMCID or NIHMSID
To cite papers, 3 months post publication and beyond	PMCID	PMCID	PMCID	PMCID

Method A: Publish in a journal that deposits all final published articles in PubMed Central (PMC) without author involvement.

Some journals automatically deposit all NIH-funded final published articles in PubMed Central, to be made publicly available within 12 months of publication, without author involvement.

Method B: Make arrangements to have the publisher deposit a specific final published article in PubMed Central.

Some publishers will deposit an individual final published article in PubMed Central upon author request, and generally for a fee.

For a list of publishers, see "Journals and NIH Policy".

Method C: Deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript in PubMed Central yourself via the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).

Submitting a final peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central (PMC) via the NIHMS involves three tasks, as explained below. Task 1 may be done by an author or by someone in the author’s organization (e.g., an assistant). Tasks 2 and 3 must by done by the author.

See details on completing Method C in the side bar on the left.

Method D: Complete the submission process for a final peer-reviewed manuscript that the publisher has deposited in the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).

In a variation of Method C, some publishers deposit the manuscript files in the NIHMS, provide contact information for a corresponding author, and designate the number of months after publication when the paper may be made publicly available in PMC.

The NIHMS will notify the author when the manuscript files are received from the publisher. At that point, the author must complete all of the tasks outlined for Method C, except for the file deposit part of Task 1 above.

Choose a journal that works for you!

Carefully consider where to submit your manuscripts for publication.
You could select from a list of journals that will submit your published article to PubMed Central on your behalf.