Skill Kit: NIH Manuscript Submission System - Get the Help You Need

[Editor's Note: See the article, Skill Kit: PubMed Central ID and PubMed, for information on how to use the PMID : PMCID Converter tool.]

Background

On December 26, 2007, President Bush signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764) which directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide public access to its funded research. NIH implemented its Public Access Policy as a voluntary measure in 2005. This new mandate requires researchers funded by NIH to submit their manuscripts to PubMed Central®. Scientists who publish in journals that do not submit articles directly to PubMed Central must deposit their manuscripts using the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) system (see "Do I or Don't I?" below). The NIH Public Access Web site (see Figure 1) provides more information about the policy. Also, the NIHMS provides additional policy and help information.

Figure 1: Partial view of the NIH Public Access homepage.

Tutorials

The NIHMS site provides a variety of Web-based tools to assist users who are navigating this submission system. These tools are primarily slide shows demonstrating various tasks in a step-by-step fashion and are illustrated with screen captures. There are three versions available for each topic: a hyperlinked HTML display, a QuickTime movie, and a PDF file.

The four broad categories covered are:

• Submission Help for Principal Investigators (PI)
• Submission Help for Non-PI Submitters
• Miscellaneous Help Items
• Login help

Do I or Don't I?

A separate submission to the NIHMS system is not necessary if a manuscript has been accepted by a journal that submits articles directly to PubMed Central on behalf of their authors. A list of these journals is available at: //publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm. Publication in one of these journals requires no further action on part of authors to comply with the submission requirement of the NIH Public Access Policy.

Articles submitted through NIHMS fulfill the requirement to provide publications as part of a grantee's progress report.

More Questions?

If you have further questions about the NIHMS, please e-mail PublicAccess@nih.gov or click on the "Contact Us" link from the left sidebar of NIH Public Access pages.

Skill Kit: NIH Manuscript Submission System - Get the Help You Need. NLM Tech Bull. 2008 Jan-Feb; (360):e6.