Submitting your manuscript to PubMed Central through the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) system is simple and usually takes about 10 minutes. Here's what you'll need:
1) Journal name
2) Manuscript title
3) NIH funding mechanism
4) All manuscript files, including any figures, tables and supplementary materials
Step 1 (Login): Log in to NIHMS at https://nihms.nih.gov/
using your NIH user name and password (the same one you use for
email). If another NIH employee/contractor submits for you, they can
use their own NIH user name and password.
Step 2 (Begin): Click on the "submit new manuscript" button to
begin the process.
Step 3 (Journal Name): Enter journal name and manuscript
title.
Step 4 (Project Number): Enter all sources of NIH funding that
supported the manuscript. Intramural researchers typically are
supported through a Z01 number. All applicable project numbers and
grant numbers (if collaborating with extramural researchers) should
be supplied. The site includes an easy search mechanism for finding
project and grant numbers.
No Project Number? Researchers who do not yet have a Z01 number or who are not supported by intramural projects should instead use the 10-digit ID number on their NIH badge.
Step 5 (Upload): Upload all manuscript files. Please
provide high-resolution versions of any images, and don't forget to
include any supplementary materials.
Step 6 (Review and Approve Submission): The NIHMS will combine
your submitted files into a single PDF file for you to review. This
is also where you set the delay period for your manuscript to be made
public on PMC.
If somebody else has submitted a manuscript on your behalf, you will receive an email asking you to login to the NIHMS and review the PDF.
Reviewing the PMC-formatted Copy of Your Manuscript
After you approve the submission (step 6, above), the
NIHMS system will convert your files to a standard PMC format that is
used for Web display. The conversion process takes about two weeks,
at the end of which you will receive an email asking you to return to
the NIHMS to review the PMC-formatted manuscript.
You must review and approve the PMC-formatted manuscript in order to
get credit for the submission.