Copyright and Publication for Grantees

Questions and Answers Table of Contents

Copyright

Should I include inventions that I haven't yet patented in my application?

We recommend that you don't include any invention that hasn't at least been submitted to the U.S. Patent Office. Read more at General Tips for a Successful Research Plan in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Be aware that if we fund your application, your abstract becomes a public document in the NIH CRISP database. Don't include confidential or proprietary information.

Can I copyright publications describing work developed during my grant?

You don't need NIH approval to copyright publications developed under an NIH grant. Copyright ownership is between you and your institution. As the grantee, your institution may exercise its right of ownership over your work if it is created during your official duties.

Do I need to register my copyright?

According to law, copyright is defined as soon as a work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression, such as print. However, in the United States you must register a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office before you can assert it in court.

Does NIH retain any rights to my work?

See 45 CFR 74.36 and the terms and conditions listed in your Notice of Award for NIH's rights to work resulting from your grant.

I developed work under an educational grant. Do I have copyright ownership rights?

Yes. Awardees of training and fellowship grants have the same copyright privileges as recipients of other NIH grants.

Are there any exceptions to grantee ownership of research results?

A cooperative agreement or an RFA may have special terms and conditions that indicate alternative rights, but this isn't common.

Does NIH ever make a grant application available to the public?

Someone may ask for a copy of a grant application through the Freedom of Information Act. However, applications may be accessed only after they have been awarded.

Also, NIH will withhold portions of the application that could violate personal privacy or reveal confidential commercial or financial information. See Information for Requesters Who Ask for a Grant Application for details.

An exception to this rule is our Annotated R01 Research Plan and Summary Statement, which we've published with the permission of the investigator.

Publication

Can I publish work conducted under an NIH grant?

Yes. NIH encourages you to publish NIH-supported research in primary scientific journals. When necessary, you should also use a copyright in articles to be published or included in proceedings of scientific conferences or other professional activities. You'll likely need approval from your institution to publish.

Should I cite NIH when I publish?

Yes. You must acknowledge NIH in any publication of directly-funded research. Include a disclaimer such as the following; use NIAID as the funding source if we funded your grant:

"This publication was made possible by Grant Number ________ from _________" or "The project described was supported by Grant Number ________ from ________" and "Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the [name of awarding office or NIH]."

Mention only the NIH grant or grants that directly supported the published research.

If a journal objects to this statement, contact your program officer for advice. Also notify your program officer of an impending publication, and be sure to send a copy of it to us with your annual progress report.

I recently received an NIH grant and am writing a review article. What is the proper way to cite my grant in the reference section?

Though you need to cite NIH for NIH-funded research publications, a literature review article doesn't fall into that category. Therefore, you don't need to cite your grant.

Should I include publications in the Appendix of my grant application?

NIH has rules about including publications in an application's Appendix. For more information, read If You Need an Appendix in the NIH Grant Cycle: Application to Renewal.

Can NIAID help me publicize my findings?

Yes. If you have a newsworthy discovery, notify our News and Public Information Branch as soon as you know the article has been accepted for publication. NIAID can help publicize your findings in a news release and field questions from the media. For help or information, call Ms. Laurie Doepel, director of that branch, at 301/496-5717, or email her at ldoepel@niaid.nih.gov.

Also, read the Public Access of Publications SOP to learn how to make your article viewable by the public through NIH's PubMed Central database.

What is the NIH public access policy?

NIH requires investigators to submit an electronic version of their final manuscript to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central. Its goal is to create an online searchable archive of peer-reviewed research publications resulting from NIH funding. For more information, see the January 11, 2008, Guide notice.

See the Public Access of Publications SOP for more information.

What types of publications may I submit to PubMed Central?

NIH's PubMed Central database features final peer-reviewed manuscripts that have been accepted for publication and describe research fully or partially funded by NIH. Do not submit contributed book chapters, editorials, reviews, or conference proceedings. See the Public Access of Publications SOP for more information.

How do I post my article on PubMed Central?

Submit manuscripts at NIH Manuscript Submission. You need an eRA Commons or an NIH login to upload materials. For more information, see the Public Access of Publications SOP.

Can I choose when my manuscript will be released on PubMed Central?

Yes. You can choose when your manuscript will be released to the public -- up to 12 months after publication.

Do I have to post my published research to PubMed Central?

Yes. NIH requires investigators to submit an electronic version of their final manuscript to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central. See the January 11, 2008, Guide notice.

See the Public Access of Publications SOP for more information.

Does the public access policy affect my progress report?

Yes. Posting a manuscript fulfills the requirement to submit a copy of your publication with your progress report.

Does complying with the public access policy fulfill my data sharing requirement?

No. The public access policy requests that investigators post their published manuscripts on PubMed Central, while the data sharing policy requires investigators to release their final data sets after removing identifiers. For more information, see the Data Sharing for Grants: Final Research Data SOP and the Data Sharing for Grants: Genome-Wide Association Studies SOP.

Do NIAID staff have restrictions on co-authoring papers?

Yes. Conflict of interest guidelines apply to employees who co-author papers with NIAID-funded or intramural investigators. For details, see Clearance of Extramural Publications and Presentations SOP.

Can I request money for publishing costs in my budget proposal?

Your direct costs may include expenses for publication in a professional journal, if the journal charges authors whether or not they are government-funded. The publication should report work supported by the grant.

Where should I include the PMC or NIH Manuscript Submission reference number in applications, proposals, and progress reports when citing articles from NIH-funded research?

List the PMC reference number (PMCID) at the end of the full journal citation. If the PMC number is not ready, use the NIH Manuscript Submission reference number (NIHMS ID) instead.

For citation examples, see Other Project Information Form: Bibliography and References Cited in the NIH Grant Cycle.

What if my question wasn't answered here, or I'd like to suggest a question?

Email deaweb@niaid.nih.gov with the title of this page or its URL and your question or comment. We answer questions by email and post them here. Thanks for helping us clarify and expand our knowledge base.