Research

NIH Data Management Plans

Starting October 1, 2003, investigators submitting NIH applications of $500,000 or more in direct costs per year are expected to include a plan for sharing data or state why data sharing is not possible. Applicants are encouraged to discuss their data sharing plan with their program contact at the time they negotiate the agreement with Institute/Center (IC) staff to accept assignment of their large dollar application. This negotiation typically occurs at least 6 weeks prior to the anticipated submission date and even earlier if the amount requested is significantly above $500,000 per year. In some cases, Program Announcements (PA) may request data sharing plans for applications that are less than $500,000 in direct costs per year.

The data sharing plan is not factored into the scientific merit or priority score by reviewers. The program staff are responsible for assessing the appropriateness and adequacy of the proposed data-sharing plan. The applicant mayrequest funds for data sharing and archiving. These financial issues should be discussed in the proposal’s budget section. View NIH guidance on its data sharing policy or a summary in the NIH data sharing brochure (pdf). NIH has also created the NIH Data Sharing workbook (pdf) to show how investigators working in a variety of scientific areas have shared their data. View a sample data sharing plan from NIAID.

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