Delivery of Cochrane content to PubMed and PubMed Central

On publication, Wiley delivers the following Cochrane content to PubMed and PubMed Central:

• Protocols (from 5 July 2024)
• Reviews, updates and amendments with a new citation 
• Editorials

Content appears on PubMed within 48 hours of publication on the Cochrane Library.

Publications with a gold open access licence also appear on PubMed Central within 48 hours of publication on the Cochrane Library. Publications with a green open access licence are held under embargo for 12 months, to protect the subscription income for Cochrane. Green open access publications appear on PubMed Central 12 months after publication.

Cochrane reviews and protocols not automatically included in PubMed Central, may be submitted and included in one or more than one of the PMC archives through one of the routes described below. The PDF version submitted is set out in the licence for publication forms.

Articles published with standard licence (green open access)

Cochrane reviews published on or after 21 September 2016: Cochrane reviews, updates and amendments with a new citation published on or after 21 September 2016 will be automatically submitted to PMC via the steps described in section (1) for inclusion 12 months after publication. No action is needed from authors.

Cochrane reviews published on or after 1 February 2013 and before 21 September 2016: Cochrane reviews, updates and amendments with a new citation published on or after 1 February 2013 and before 21 September 2016 may be submitted to PMC by the author, for inclusion 12 months after publication. Authors who wish to submit a copy of their Cochrane Review to PMC need to follow the instructions on the PMC website: Submitting papers through the NIHMS: Methods C and D Best Practices.

Protocols for Cochrane Reviews published on or after 1 February 2013 and before 5 July 2024: protocols for Cochrane Reviews published on or after 1 February 2013 may be submitted to PMC by the author, for inclusion 12 months after publication. Authors who wish to submit a copy of their Cochrane Protocol to PMC need to follow the instructions on the PMC website: Submitting papers through the NIHMS: Methods C and D Best Practices.

Articles published with a Creative Commons licence (gold open access)

If an author selects gold open access (by paying the article publishing charge or is eligible for a waiver), then Wiley will arrange for the Cochrane review or protocol to be submitted to PMC. The following steps occur:

• Wiley sends the submission to the NIH platform and processing and approval begins.
• NIH sends an email to the contact author requesting approval for the submission of the review to NIH and PMC.
• Contact author approves the submission.
• NIH puts the article through quality assurance (removing duplications etc).
• NIH indexes the article.
• NIH includes the Cochrane Review in the PMC after the 12-month embargo.

Please note that it is the contact author’s responsibility to provide authorization to the NIH to include the article in the PMC. If the contact author does not provide authorization then the NIH will not submit the article to PMC.  

USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded research

Cochrane Reviews that are prepared by one or more authors with USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding must be submitted to PMC as part of the funding requirements. Wiley assists with the submission of NIH-funded reviews to PMC. The following steps occur:

• NIH-funded authors must tick the correct box in the licence for publication form.
• Wiley is alerted that a NIH-funded review needs to be submitted to PMC.
• Wiley sends the submission to the NIH platform and processing and approval begins.
• NIH sends an email to the contact author requesting approval for the submission of the review to NIH and PMC.
• Contact author approves the submission.
• NIH puts the article through quality assurance (removing duplications etc).
• NIH indexes the article.
• NIH includes the Cochrane Review in the PMC.

Please note that it is the contact author’s responsibility to provide approval to the NIH to include the article in the PMC. If the contact author does not provide authorization then the NIH will not submit the article to PMC.  

UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants

Cochrane Protocols and Reviews prepared as part of the 2007 and 2010 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants, and published by 31 January 2013, must be submitted to Europe PMC as part of the NIHR open access policy. The Cochrane Editorial and Methods Department will approve the submission of each individual article to Europe PMC against the list of protocols and reviews provided by the NIHR. 

Cochrane Protocols and Reviews prepared as part of the NIHR Programme Grants from 2013 onwards, in addition to Cochrane Protocols and Reviews published after 1 February 2014 from the 2007 and 2010 NIHR Programme Grants, will follow the usual green open access policy. This allows the author team to deposit the protocol or review into Europe PMC 12 months after publication in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR).

All Cochrane Protocols and Reviews prepared as part of a NIHR Programme Grant must include an entry in the ‘External Sources of Support’ section with the following as a minimum: 

• Name: National Institute for Health Research, UK
• Description: [grant name], [grant number]