National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded investigators are required by Federal law to submit (or have submitted) to PubMed Central (PMC) an electronic version of the final, peer-reviewed manuscript upon acceptance for publication. Having a PMCID for an article is the only way to show compliance.
Researchers sign on to My NCBI account (Pubmed.gov) via the eRA Commons login to see and change compliance status in My Bibliography. A red icon indicates not in compliance, green for in compliance, and blue for in process of getting a PMCID. A red icon may also indicate citations without information, which can be marked with an exemption or set to private where the policy does not apply. Researchers can delegate other users to help manage their citations. TU researchers may obtain their eRA Commons credentials at NIH Commons ID.
On December 17, 2024, NIH issued its updated Public Access Policy in accordance with the Nelson Memo. On April 30, 2025, the NIH announced that the 2024 Public Access Policy is effective for manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. The updated NIH Public Access Policy requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to PubMed Central immediately upon acceptance for publication. For more information on this upcoming policy see the NIH's Public Access Policy site.
