But other universities nationwide are continuing to refuse similar requests.
Big tobacco companies, including Philip Morris Companies Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., requested the information as part of their defense in a federal lawsuit against the industry.
The lawsuit, which seeks to recover federal health care costs associated with tobacco use, alleges that tobacco companies knew about the potential dangers of their products but withheld the information from the government and the public.
The New York Times reported Sunday that although subpoenas also were issued to Harvard University, the University of Arizona, the University of Kentucky, Johns Hopkins University, New York University and four campuses of the University of California system, only N.C. State has allowed documents to be inspected.
Debbie Griffith, N.C. State associate vice chancellor of public affairs, said the university was not informed of the reasons behind the subpoena but has complied with the request.
Griffith said the tobacco industry originally requested only a few studies from N.C. State.
"Then they came back with a broader request," she said. "(They) wanted all studies."
Most of the subpoenaed documents already were public record, Griffith said. "There wasn't any real threat to academic freedom or ongoing research," she said.
Philip Morris spokesman John Sorrells declined Tuesday to specify what the tobacco companies hope to gain in searching university research records, but he called the requests "narrowly tailored."