1 July 2024: The Editorial Publishing & Policy Resource is scheduled to be archived. This page may not contain the most updated version of the information and is being retained for reference until 1 August 2024. Specific redirect information will be provided.


PubMed and PubMed Central (PMC)

PubMed and PubMed Central are databases managed by the US National Institute of Health. 

  • PubMed is an index of abstracts
  • PubMed Central is an index of full-text articles

Cochrane protocols are not automatically sent to PubMed or PubMed Central by Wiley unless published under a Gold OA licence.

Authors can submit their protocol published under a Green OA licence to PubMed Central for inclusion 12 months after publication. See instructions below.

Cochrane Reviews and updates/amendments with a new citation are sent to both PubMed and PubMed Central (PMC) for indexing purposes. Reviews published under a Green OA licence are then held under embargo for 12 months, to protect the subscription income for Cochrane. Reviews published under a Gold OA licence are freely available to all users upon publication on Cochrane Library, PubMed and PMC.  

PubMed Central (PMC) is a free archive (repository) of the full text of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, hosted by the US NIH National Library of Medicine (NLM). Europe PMC is a partner of PMC that also contains content held on PMC.

Cochrane Reviews and Protocols may be submitted and included in one or more than one of the PMC archives through one of the following routes. 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 (including updates) 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.

Cochrane Reviews published on or after 1 February 2013 and before 21 September 2016: Cochrane Reviews (excluding Protocols) 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: 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]
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