Copyright is a form of protection provided by law to the authors of "original works of authorship" such as formatted journal articles, software, and book chapters. Authorship by a United States government employee that is done as part of the employee's official duties is a work of the United States Government. Copyright may not be established in the United States for works of government employees (17 U.S.C. § 105).
The NIH Public Access Policy requires NIH authors to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication but no later than 12 months after publication. NIH employees may not sign a journal's publishing agreement and are required to use the "NIH Publishing Agreement & Manuscript Cover Sheet".
For Peer-Reviewed Publications (must comply with Public Access Policy): The procedure posted on the NIH Public Access website provides guidance and procedures for NIH employees and a link to a PDF of the NIH Publishing Agreement & Manuscript Cover Sheet .
For Non-peer-reviewed publications such as books and book chapters: The procedure posted on the NIH Intramural Research Sourcebook website summarizes guidance and procedures for NIH authors of books, chapters and other non-peer reviewed materials. There is also a link to a PDF of a Cover Sheet for use with non-peer-reviewed materials.
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