Data Management Funder Policies

"NIH has issued the Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy (effective January 25, 2023) to promote the sharing of scientific data. Sharing scientific data accelerates biomedical research discovery, in part, by enabling validation of research results, providing accessibility to high-value datasets, and promoting data reuse for future research studies." (NIH, n.d., Data Management & Sharing Policy Overview: Applications for Receipt Dates ON/AFTER Jan 25 2023)

This DMS Policy applies to all NIH funded research which results in the generation of scientific data on/after January 25, 2023. Under the DMS policy, NIH expects investigators and institutions to:

• Plan and budget for the managing and sharing of data
• Submit a DMS plan for review when applying for funding
• Comply with the approved DMS plan

This section of the guide is intended to present an overview of information about the policy and resources available for faculty submitting NIH proposals. It is not exhaustive and the below highlight some important documentation regarding the policy for reference.

• NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy (DMS Policy)

  The final policy is supplemented with additional guidance documents that are linked at the top of the policy.

• Data Management & Sharing Policy Overview

  A summary what is expected of investigators and institutions. Learn what is expected of investigators and institutions under the 2003 NIH Data Sharing Policy and the 2023 NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy. Includes specific institute or center requirements.

• Writing a Data Management & Sharing Plan

Refer to this page to learn more about what NIH expects to be addressed in Data Management & Sharing Plans. This is described in more detail in the Requirements section of this guide below.

Budget for the managing and sharing of data

• Refer to the Budgeting for Data Management & Sharing NIH webpage for additional information regarding what data sharing related costs may be requested in an application for funding.

Writing an NIH Data Management & Sharing Plan

• Refer to the Writing an NIH Data Management & Sharing Plan webpage for sample plans and learn what NIH expects data management & sharing plans to address, including the following six elements:

1. Data Type
2. Related Tools, Software, and/or Code
3. Standards
4. Data Preservation, Access, and Associated Timelines - This includes the name of the repository(ies) where data will be archived. Please see the following Sharing Scientific Data section of this guide.
5. Access, Distribution, or Reuse Considerations
6. Oversight of Data Management and Sharing

Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)

Another requirement for NIH grants and all other federally-funded grants, per the National Security Presidential Memorandum NSPM-33 and the Office of Science and Technology Policy OSTP Memorandum (PDF – links to an external source and may not be accessible) will be the incorporation of the use of persistent identifiers (PIDs). 

As of 2020, NIH has required ORCID iDs for research training, fellowship, research education, and career development awards (NIH Notice NOT-OD-19-109)

• ORCID is the most commonly used PID for authors (see our guide to getting an ORCID). ORCID iDs can be integrated with the SciENcv system to create biosketches. A video is available that demonstrates this functionality from the SciENcv: Help Documentation: Integrating with ORCID.  
• DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) are a common PID for research materials (including articles, data sets, and other research outputs). DOIs are usually assigned by publishers or repositories and the Libraries assign DOIs to faculty and student works in ODU's institutional repository ODU Digital Commons.
• ROR (Research Organization Registry) provides organization identifiers. ODU's ROR ID is https://ror.org/04zjtrb98.

Refer to the Persistent Identifier section of the Data Management @ ODU guide for additional information.

Sharing scientific data accelerates biomedical research discovery, enhances research rigor and reproducibility, provides accessibility to high-value datasets, and promotes data reuse for future research studies. Under the NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy, investigators are encouraged to choose the most appropriate methods for sharing scientific data.

Selecting appropriate data repositories for storing and sharing data as required by NIH.

1. If there is a designated data repository identified by the Institute, Center, Office (ICO) policy, researchers should use that repository.
2. If there is no repository identified, use a discipline- or domain-specific repository, if available.
3. If a repository is not designated, generalist repository may be chosen. Researchers should also consider ODU's institutional repository Digital Commons as a possible location to store data.

An initiative from the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy is the Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI), which is intended to supplement the domain-specific data repositories and are critical components of the NIH biomedical data ecosystem for data sharing. It includes established generalist repositories that will work together to establish consistent metadata, develop use cases for data sharing, train and educate researchers on FAIR data and the importance of data sharing, and more. The repositories are: Dryad, Harvard Dataverse, figshare, Mendeley Data, Open Science Framework (OSF), Vivli, and Zenodo. 

• Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative

  "The long-term vision for GREI is to develop collaborative approaches for data management and sharing through inclusion of the generalist repositories in the NIH data ecosystem. GREI also aims to better enable search and discovery of NIH-funded data in the generalist repositories." (GREI Vision)

"GREI’s mission is twofold. The primary mission is to establish a common set of cohesive and consistent capabilities, services, metrics, and social infrastructure across various generalist repositories. Secondarily, GREI will raise general awareness and help researchers to adopt FAIR principles to better share and reuse data." (GREI Mission)

• Generalist Repository Comparison Chart

  The chart presents a comparison of the generalist repositories within the GREI initiative. Information includes size limits, storage space per user, version support, formats, cost.

Refer to the Sharing Scientific Data webpage to learn more about methods for data sharing and selecting data repositories.

• NIH Data Sharing Website

• NIH Scientific Data Sharing: News & Events

  Find out about upcoming and past events and the latest news about the NIH Policy. No sign-in is necessary for past events. For upcoming NNLM events, ODU users can create a free account and register for training.

• Learning Resources from the NIH

  Find resources and training opportunities for NIH sharing policies, in addition to those on the News & Events page.

• NIH FAQ

  Frequently-asked questions about the 2003 and 2023 Plans, the Genomic Data Sharing Policy, and the Sharing of Model Organism and Related Resources.

• Data Management and Sharing Plan resources

Researchers can create a data sharing plan document that meets the font / size / margins requirements for submissions, but the NIH has also created a template: DMS plan template.

Another option is to use the DMPTool, a service of the California Digital Library, and select National Institutes of Health as the funder of interest, which provides a guided approach to completing your plan. There are currently four templates to choose from:

• NIH-Default DMSP
• NIH-FDP Pilot Template Alpha
• NIH-FDP Pilot Template Bravo
• NIH-NIMH: The National Institute of Mental Health

Please refer to the Federal Demonstration Partnership (FDP) NIH Data Management and Sharing Pilot webpage for additional information regarding the Alpha and Bravo Templates.

A video is available from the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) on Creating Data Management Plans with DMPTool. 

For additional information regarding the DMPTool and data management planning, refer to the Data Management @ ODU library guide.