In a preprint article published online by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Duke University Scholarly Communications Officer Kevin L. Smith offers pragmatic strategies that authors and their institutions can use to manage authors' copyrights to fulfill the requirements of the new National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy.
The article 'Managing Copyright for NIH Public Access: Strategies to Ensure Compliance' explores three strategic options for authors and institutions to retain and manage the rights needed to comply with the new policy. Although the three strategies are focused on meeting the NIH's article deposit requirement, they could also be employed to accomplish a more comprehensive strategy for public dissemination of research. Additionally, the article includes a sample letter that authors can use to notify publishers that an article they are submitting for consideration is based on NIH-funded research and therefore must be made accessible to the public under NIH's new policy.
The new NIH Public Access Policy, which becomes effective April 7, 2008, will require that all investigators funded by NIH to submit an electronic copy of their final peer-reviewed manuscripts of articles that have been accepted for publication. Submission is to take place 'upon acceptance,' and the article must be made available in the PubMed Central database within one year of publication.
