Data Management Funder Policies

Current requirements:

Data Management Plan - NASA requires a data management plan (DMP) to be submitted with funding proposals.

• Refer to Section 4 of the NASA Plan for Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research document for additional information (please note the link directs you to the main NASA Technical Reports Server results page, where this document is available for download as a PDF).
• According to Section 4 referenced above, the DMP "must provide a plan for making research data that underlie the results and findings in peer-reviewed publications digitally accessible at the time of publication or within a reasonable time period after publication...The published article should indicate how these data can be accessed" (NASA Plan for Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research, p. 6).

Scholarly Publications - NASA requires all NASA-funded researchers to submit copies of their scholarly publications to PubSpace.

• Refer to Submit to PubSpace for additional information

Updated and future policy-related information:

• NASA has released an updated Public Access Plan (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible).
• As of October 27, 2023, "embargoes will be removed for accepted manuscripts submitted to NASA’s PubSpace, a collection within the STI Repository (NTRS)" (NTRS News: Improving Timely Access to NASA Research by Removing Embargoes for Accepted Manuscripts in NASA's PubSpace).
• Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has released SPD-41a: Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate, which indicates peer-reviewed publications are made openly available without embargo and research data are to be shared at the time of publication or the end of the funding award. Refer to NASA's Science Information Policy for additional information.

A 2019 report by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicated that two subcomponent agencies within the Department of Commerce, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), determined they were subject to the 2013 OSTP memo. These two agencies require data management plans to be submitted with grant proposals.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - Please note that the below refers to current requirements. For future policy-related information, please refer to the 2023 National Institute of Standards and Technology Plan for Providing Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible). Directives have not yet been updated to reflect the new plan.

• Refer to the Policies, Directives and NIST's Public Access Plan, and Information for Awardees for data management plan guidance and template, example, and rubric.

National Oceanic and Administration (NOAA) - Please note that the below refers to current requirements.

• Refer to the NOAA Data Management Planning Procedural Directive (PD) page for a download of the current version of the PD and a Data Management Plan Template.

Please note that the below refers to current requirements. For future policy-related information, please refer to the 2023 Implementation Plan to Increase Public Access to USDA-funded Research Results (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible).

According to the USDA Public Access website: "All peer-reviewed, scholarly publications and digital scientific research data assets arising from unclassified research and programs funded wholly or in part by the USDA must be made accessible to the public, to the fullest extent practicable."

Several important aspects of the current requirements for research funded on or after October 1, 2022:

• Peer-reviewed publications must be made accessible through PubAg.
• A data management plan must accompany research proposals that will produce digital scientific research data.
• Data must be published in a repository, and metadata must be made available in Ag Data Commons (note that this repository has been migrated to a Figshare platform).
• All authors must have a digital persistent identifier (such as an ORCID iD) that is linked to their publications.

Please note that the below refers to current requirements. Open government plans referenced below can be found on the Open Government at IMLS webpage.

The IMLS Open Government Plan Version 3.0, September 2016 (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible), acknowledges that even though the IMLS was not subject to the 2013 OSTP memorandum, the agency fully supports the policies set forth to increase public access to results of federally-funded research.

The plan introduces the publication The Open Data Imperative: How the Cultural Heritage Community Can Address the Federal Mandate and also states the expectation that IMLS-funded software products will be developed and released under an open source license.

The IMLS Open Government Plan Version 4.0, January 2019 (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible) reiterates the commitment to prioritizing open access to data. The IMLS requires applicants to complete a data management plan, called the Digital Product Form (PDF – Links to an external source and may not be accessible), in which applicants consider what type of digital products are expected to be created during the research project and fill out applicable sections (e.g. Section II: Digital Content, Resources, or Assets; Section III: Software; Section IV: Research Data). 

Current requirements:

According to the National Endowment for the Humanities Blog: Planning Your Next DHAG [Digital Humanities Advancement Grant] 3: Managing and Sustaining Project Assets, the Office of Digital Humanities introduced requirements for data management plans (DMPs) to be submitted with grant proposals in 2011. Data management plan instructions align with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (PDF - Links to an external source and may not be accessible) and are outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). The most recent NOFO instruction for DMPs includes types of data, roles and responsibilities, legal or ethical considerations, and mechanisms for sharing data.

Updated and future policy-related information:

NEH is in the process of developing a public access plan, which will be published in final form in December for 2024 and go into effect for awards beginning in the 2026 fiscal year. The draft plan, which NEH indicates will primarily affect academic institutions and scholars, specifies:

• NEH awardees must submit a copy of any peer-reviewed journal article resulting from award activities no later than the time of publication. In most cases, awardees are expected to share the "accepted manuscript".
• NEH applicants intending to create a dataset resulting from applied research, they must describe how they will preserve the data and make it publicly available, and follow through on the activities described.

Part of the mission of the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) is to  "to preserve, curate, and share knowledge from DoD’s annual multi-billion dollar investment in science and technology" (About DTIC). The DTIC houses the Department of Defense Plan to Establish Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research (PDF - Links to an external source and may not be accessible). This plan indicates a Data Management Plan "will become an integral part of all contract or grant proposal packages" (p. 3).

Please note that the below refers to current requirements.

In addition, "a new version of DoD Instruction 3200.12 "DoD Scientific and Technical Information Program (STIP), Change 3," was published December 17th, 2018" (Public Access Requirements Incorporated into the DoD STIP, February 8, 2019). Summary of Change 3 within DoD Instruction 3200.12 (PDF - Links to an external source and may not be accessible) states that "the changes to this issuance amend policy directing public access to publically releasable peer-reviewed scholarly publications, require projects to include DMPs, and update procedures to gain access to federally funded scientific research results" (p. 3) and section 3 of Enclosure 3 of the Instruction outlines what should be included in a data management plan.