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Production Data Requirements

Once a journal or selective deposit feed has passed the Technical Evaluation Step and been released in PMC, it must continue to meet PMC's production data requirements consistently in order to stay in PMC.

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Basic PMC Production Requirements

  1. Timely and complete supply of files: All content for a journal, including corrections, errata, retractions and editorial expressions of concern, must be supplied to PMC within 4 weeks of final publication, as specified in the PMC participation agreements.

  2. Quality of supplied data: All files that a journal supplies to PMC in production must pass the same quality tests that were applied during technical evaluation.

  3. Prompt resolution of minor data errors and responsiveness to PMC requests: PMC recognizes that sometimes the files submitted by a journal may have minor data errors. During the production process, PMC staff may identify articles that are overdue or missing, or find files that have data errors and need to be resupplied. In addition, staff may have other questions about a submission. In all cases, we expect a reply to PMC's request for files or information within 2 weeks at most, and to supply all requested data files within 4 weeks of the original request. Journals will not have multiple chances to make corrections or respond to PMC requests.

Failure to Comply with PMC Data Requirements

First Incident | Repeat Incidents | Following Resolution

PMC will actively work with a journal or publisher in the event of any of the following issues (“Incidents”) to ensure a timely resolution to the problem(s):

  • Files that do not meet PMC's minimum data criteria
  • Non-compliance with any of the basic PMC production requirements
  • Serious or repeated data errors

Serious or Repeated Data Errors

PMC production defines serious or repeated data errors as:

  • A systematic problem with submissions not containing all required files,
  • Frequent failure to comply with PMC's file submission specifications for naming and packaging files, and/or
  • Frequent reappearance of an error similar to one that was reported and corrected earlier, either during technical evaluation or in the deposit of a different batch of articles.

First Incident

The first time a journal has an incident, PMC will remind the journal of PMC's data quality standards and response requirements.

Repeat Incidents

If a journal has two "incidents" within a 6-month span or in two consecutive issue deliveries, PMC will inform the journal of the problems and immediately put a hold on processing new submissions. Additionally, a date will be set in consultation with the journal, by which all outstanding problems must be resolved ("first deadline").

If the problems are not resolved by the agreed upon first deadline, PMC will put a hold on processing new submissions for an additional 6 months, establishing a "second deadline". The second deadline is fixed at 6 months.

If the problems are not resolved by the end of the second deadline, PMC reserves the right to terminate the PMC participation agreement for the journal.

Suspension of Regular Operations in PMC

If a publisher with multiple titles in PMC has serious production problems with many of its titles, PMC may choose to suspend regular operations in PMC for all the publisher's titles. In addition, PMC will not accept or process applications for any additional titles until all the existing problems have been resolved properly.

Following Resolution

If, at the end of a suspension / deadline, a journal shows that it can comply fully with PMC's production data requirements, PMC will resume regular operations for the journal.

If a journal has another Incident within 12 months of the resumption of regular operations, PMC reserves the right to terminate the PMC participation agreement for the journal.