Sponsored Program Compliance

5. Publication, Data and Intellectual Property

UR considers an open academic environment (the unrestricted freedom to publish and access to research projects by all university faculty and students) to be of crucial importance. UR will not accept, for example, funding for classified or proprietary research projects, where rights to publish results would be limited.

Publication in peer-reviewed journals is at the heart of the academic research enterprise. Considerations around the sharing of information, and the ability to replicate research results, are discussed in the excerpt from "On Being a Scientist" linked in the box on the right.

As the UR has achieved a notable reputation for technology transfer, one outcome has been increased interest in patentability and licensing of intellectual property developed at the University. This has brought new attention to issues of openness and publishability. Another outcome has been the growth of UR start-up companies based on UR technology. This has brought new attention to the management of any real or perceived conflict of interest of the PI or the institution.

As a recipient of federal research funding, UR must report invention disclosures and promote technology transfer for the good of society. Specific provisions, including royalty-sharing, can be found in UR's Policy on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer.

Finally, after the research project is complete, regulations stipulate the length of time that scientific records and data must be retained. In general, data must be kept for THREE YEARS following the closure of a project (this applies to both scientific and financial records). Special circumstances may require longer retention periods. Lab notebooks are crucial project records, for example, in support of a patent application.

As a recipient of NIH funding, UR must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. All investigators funded by NIH are required to submit or have submitted for them an electronic copy of their NIH supported final peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central. The manuscript will be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication. PubMed Central (PMC)is a digital repository maintained by the National Library of Medicine.

This policy pertains to peer-reviewed articles, including research reports and reviews, accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008 . UR authors must inform journal publishers that their article is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy when submitting it for publication and make sure the copyright transfer agreement allows the article to be submitted to PMC. More information is available in the UR-NIH Public Access Policy

Many journals already deposit their articles in PubMed Central. If an article is published in one of these journals, the author does not need to do anything further to comply with the policy. A complete list is available at the NIH website.

Effective May 25, 2008 all NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports must include the PubMed Central reference number or NIH manuscript submission reference number when citing an article that falls under the policy and is authored or co-authored by the investigator, or arose from the investigator's NIH award. This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.

NIH grantees can submit manuscripts to PubMed Central by logging in to the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) web site. Visit NIH’s Public Access web site for the complete policy and FAQ's.

Staff from Miner Library can assist in submitting manuscripts to PubMed Central and/or provide training for support staff. Contact Linda Hasman, (275-3399) for more information.

Further information is also available from the Miner Library web site and in the UR-NIH Public Access Policy.

Note that other federal agencies are now mandating open access to publications arising from federal funding. See NSF's Public Access Plan.