Manuscript deposition service
On this page
- Overview
- Key-facts
- Process
- Repositories in Nature Portfolio's Manuscript Deposition Service
- Participating funders
- Journals offering the Manuscript Deposition Service
- Self-Archiving Policy and License to Publish
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Contact us
Overview
The Manuscript Deposition Service is currently available to Nature Portfolio authors publishing original research articles in Nature and the Nature research titles and many of the society and academic journals. Several funding bodies and institutions have introduced mandates that require authors to self-archive articles in publicly accessible archives. This free and simple service enables researchers to meet the open access or public access policies of a number PMC and Europe PMC participating funders.
Key facts
- Authors can opt-in to the service during the submission process, and provide their or their co-authors relevant funding information as part of their submission to a Nature journal. See here for the list of Nature journals which offer the manuscript deposition service.
- Nature Portfolio uploads the authors' final version of the accepted manuscript upon acceptance.
- These manuscripts are made publicly accessible 6 months after publication and link back to the journal's website.
- The service applies only to original research articles, not to reviews or other article types.
- Only authors whose funders have agreements with PubMed Central and Europe PubMed Central, and are included in the list on our website below may use this service.
- Authors who do not take up the service during submission may self-archive directly via the submission systems at the appropriate repository. Links to the repository submission systems are:
- Further information about self-archiving and links to step-by-step guides for PubMed Central and Europe PubMed Central may be found here.
Process
When authors opt-in to the service as part of the journal's submission process, they are required to:
- select a funder
- provide further information needed by the repository
On acceptance, Nature Portfolio will deposit the accepted version of the author's manuscript, setting a public release date of 6-months post-publication. PMC or Europe PMC will ask the author to confirm the deposit and validate the PDF that the repository has created. The files deposited will be freely accessible after the embargo period.
Repositories in Nature Portfolio's Manuscript Deposition Service
- PubMed Central (PMC)
- Europe PubMed Central (formerly known as UKPMC)
Participating funders
PubMed Central
- Administration for Community Living (ACL)
- Agency for Healthcare Research Quality (AHRQ/HHS)
- American Heart Association
- Autism Speaks
- Avon Foundation for Women
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC/HHS)
- Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA/HHS)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institutes (HHMI)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR)
- Parkinson's Foundation
- Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Europe PubMed Central
- Academy of Medical Sciences
- Action on Hearing Loss
- Alzheimer's Society
- Arthritis Research UK
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
- Bloodwise
- Breast Cancer Now (formed in 2015 by the merger of Breast Cancer Campaign and Breakthrough Breast Cancer)
- British Heart Foundation (BHF)
- Cancer Research UK (CRUK)
- Chief Scientist Office (Scotland)
- Diabetes UK
- National Institute for Health Research (Department of Health)
- Dunhill Medical Trust
- EMBL-supported
- European Research Council (ERC)
- Marie Curie Cancer Care
- Medical Research Council (MRC)
- Motor Neuron Disease Association
- Multiple Sclerosis Society
- Myrovlytis Trust
- National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs)
- Parkinson's UK
- Prostate Cancer UK
- Science Foundation Ireland
- Stroke Association
- Swiss National Science Foundation
- Telethon Italy
- The Wellcome Trust
- Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance
- WHO (World Health Organization)
- Worldwide Cancer Research (formerly 'Association for International Cancer Research' (AICR))
- Yorkshire Cancer Research
Journals offering the Manuscript Deposition Service
- Nature
- Nature Astronomy
- Nature Biomedical Engineering
- Nature Biotechnology
- Nature Cancer
- Nature Catalysis
- Nature Cell Biology
- Nature Chemical Biology
- Nature Chemistry
- Nature Climate Change
- Nature Ecology & Evolution
- Nature Electronics
- Nature Energy
- Nature Food
- Nature Geoscience
- Nature Human Behaviour
- Nature Genetics
- Nature Immunology
- Nature Machine Intelligence
- Nature Materials
- Nature Medicine
- Nature Metabolism
- Nature Methods
- Nature Microbiology
- Nature Nanotechnology
- Nature Neuroscience
- Nature Photonics
- Nature Physics
- Nature Plants
- Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
- Nature Sustainability
- Bone Marrow Transplantation
- British Journal of Cancer
- Cancer Gene Therapy
- Cell Death and Differentiation
- Cellular & Molecular Immunology
- Cell Research
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- European Journal of Human Genetics
- Eye
- Genes and Immunity
- Gene Therapy
- Genetics in Medicine
- Heredity
- Immunology & Cell Biology
- International Journal of Impotence Research
- International Journal of Obesity
- The ISME Journal
- Journal of Antibiotics
- Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology
- Journal of Human Genetics
- Journal of Human Hypertension
- Journal of Perinatology
- Laboratory Investigation
- Leukemia
- Modern Pathology
- Molecular Psychiatry
- Mucosal Immunology
- Neuropsychopharmacology
- Pediatric Research
- The Pharmacogenomics Journal
- Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases
- Oncogene
- Spinal Cord
Self-Archiving Policy and License to Publish
The Nature journals have long supported self-archiving, having actively encouraged authors to do so since 2005 when the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) first requested authors to make a voluntary deposit in PubMed Central.
The License to Publish encourages authors of original research articles to self-archive the accepted version of their manuscript in PubMed Central or other appropriate funding body's archive; their institution's repositories; and, if they wish, on their personal websites. In all cases, the manuscript can be made publicly accessible six months after publication.
The Nature journals have not required authors of original research articles to transfer copyright since 2002. Policies are explained in detail on the License to Publish page.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q. Is there a cost associated with opting into the manuscript deposition service?
The Nature journals offer manuscript deposition as a free service. There is no charge to authors, funders, or institutions.
Q. Which repositories are included in the manuscript deposition service?
Please click here for the list of repositories.
Q. Which journals offer the manuscript deposition service?
Please click here for the list of journals that offer the Manuscript Deposition Service.
Q. What article types are covered under the manuscript deposition service?
The deposition service applies only to original research articles, not reviews or other article types.
Q. What details are required during submission to opt-in to the manuscript deposition service?
- Funder name
- Grant reference number
- Principal investigator name and email address
Q. When does the journal deposit the manuscript on behalf of the author?
Upon acceptance, the journal uploads the authors’ final version of the accepted manuscript.
Q. How long after publication are manuscripts made available publicly?
The deposition service adheres to the embargoes established for each journal; most embargo periods are set to 6 months.
Q. What happens if the author doesn’t opt-in to the manuscript deposition service during submission?
If an author requires deposition of an article that has been published and they did not opt into the service during submission they may contact our MDS helpdesk to initiate deposition. Alternatively authors are encouraged to self-archive via the NIH Manuscript Submission Systems: PubMed Central and Europe PubMed Central.
Please note it is the authors' accepted version that should be deposited, not the final published version.
Q. What if the NIH system PDF file has an error?
Nature Portfolio has no control over the conversion process at NIH Manuscript Submission Systems; therefore, please contact the appropriate NIHMS Helpdesk: PubMed Central and Europe PubMed Central.
Q. What should I do if I believe my manuscript was supposed to be deposited, but it doesn’t appear in the repository?
Please verify with the corresponding author to determine if they opted-in to the manuscript deposition service during the submission process. If the corresponding author opted-into the service, they would have been contacted by the appropriate repository requesting approval of the deposited files. Please log into the NIH Manuscript Tracking System to locate your deposited record. The deposited files will be released after the embargo period. For any additional information, please contact our MDS Helpdesk.
Q. What happens after the journal sends the manuscript to the repository? Is the author notified?
The corresponding author is sent a confirmation email from the journal. In addition, the repository will contact the author requesting approval of the PDF file generated by their system.
Q. What if the version of my manuscript in the repository is wrong—it doesn’t include any edits made after acceptance?
The version of the article deposited is always the authors’ final version of the accepted manuscript. It will not reflect changes made as part of the editing and production process. This process is in accordance with the deposit mandates set by funders and institutes. Authors should notify the repository directly about errors reflected in the deposited content.
Q. What about authors who are not funded by the participating funders?
Nature journals deposit articles at PMC and Europe PMC for certain participating funders that have agreements with these repositories. Authors who are not covered by this service can self-archive their author’s accepted manuscript in institutional or funder repositories and make it available six months after first publication, in line with our self-archiving policy (above).
Q. Can I opt into the manuscript deposition service for my open access articles?
No, we automatically deposit open access articles in PubMed Central and Europe PubMed Central on publication if the article meets the PMC deposition guidelines; the full details of our deposition policies are found under the “Self-archiving, manuscript deposition, and digital preservation” information here.
Q. How long does it take to receive a PMCID?
As soon as the article is deposited in one of the repositories, it will be issued an ID by the repository; a NIHMSID is issued first, the paper is then indexed by the repository, and then issued a PMCID.
Q. What is the difference between a PMCID, NIHMSID and PMID?
PMCID is a unique reference number or identifier that is assigned to every article that is accepted into PMC. The PMCID is also used by recipients of NIH funding to demonstrate compliance with the NIH Public Access policy.
NIHMSID is a preliminary article identifier that applies only to manuscripts deposited through the NIHMS system. Once the paper appears in PMC, it will also be assigned a PMCID.
PMID is a unique reference number for PubMed citations. The PMID is a distinctly different number from the PMCID and is used only for PubMed records. However, the PMID can be used to find the corresponding PMCID (or NIHMSID) if these reference identifiers have already been created.
Contact us
If you have questions about the Manuscript Deposition Service, please contact our MDS helpdesk.
