Using the New NIH Manuscript Submission System

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the eRA have developed a password-protected, Web-based, NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) system to implement the new NIH Public Access (PA) policy. This policy requests and strongly encourages all NIH-funded investigators to make their peer-reviewed final manuscripts available to the public in the NLM’s PubMed Central (PMC). Ideally, manuscripts will be available in PMC as soon as they are published in journals.

The NIHMS system is available at http://nihms.nih.gov. Principal investigators (PIs) must be registered in the Commons to log in to the system. If a PI is not yet registered, he/she can create an unaffiliated Commons account by following the “Create new account” link. Unaffiliated accounts do not provide access to the full range of Commons’ services.

Required Input for the NIHMS

  • Journal name  
  • Manuscript title  
  • PI name and email address  
  • NIH grant number(s)  
  • Manuscript and graphic files in the same format used to submit to the publisher (e.g., Microsoft (MS) Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Joint Photographic Expert Group (jpg), Tagged Image File (tif), WordPerfect, Portable Document Format (PDF))

Manuscript Submission Process for the PI

  1. Go to the NIHMS at http://www.nihms.nih.gov.   
  2. Select the appropriate login option (“eRA Commons” for grantees or “NIH” for intramural staff).  
  3. Provide required information: the journal title, manuscript title, PI name and email address, and associated NIH grant number(s).   
  4. Upload the complete text of the manuscript(s).  
  5. Upload supplemental, high-resolution image files for figures, tables, etc.  
  6. Review the receipt issued by the NIHMS. The receipt will show data entered as well as the uploaded files merged into one PDF document.  
  7. Verify that the data and manuscript are correct. Agree to a Submission Statement that includes setting the delay period for public release of the manuscript.  
  8. Review the manuscript in XML format. NIH will convert the manuscript into XML, the standard digital format used by PMC.  
  9. After PI approval, the NLM will post the manuscript in the PMC on the date designated by the PI.

Note: Beginning July 6, 2005, others may upload a manuscript on behalf of the PI; however, the PI still must approve the Submission Statement (complete steps 7-9).

For more information, see the NIH Public Access Policy Authors’ Manual.