Writing an NIH Data Management & Sharing Plan

This guide is designed for PI and research teams who are submitting funding proposals to the National Institutes of Health and need to develop a Data Management & Sharing Plan. The NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy, which requires submission of a Data Management and Sharing Plan, takes effect on January 25, 2023.

For further details about the policy, see below.

Introductory information about the NIH Final Data Management & Sharing (DMS) Policy is available at the links below. If you are not yet familiar with the policy itself, we recommend reviewing those materials first. Policies specific to Institutes and Centers are listed at https://sharing.nih.gov/other-sharing-policies/nih-institute-and-center-data-sharing-policies.

NIH DMS Policy & Key Supplemental Documents

• NOT-OD-21-014 – Supplemental Information to the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing: Elements of an NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan
• NOT-OD-21-015 – Supplemental Information to the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing: Allowable Costs for Data Management and Sharing
• NOT-OD-21-016 – Supplemental Information to the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing: Selecting a Repository for Data Resulting from NIH-Supported Research
• NIH Scientific Data Sharing site - https://sharing.nih.gov/

IU Working Group

A grassroots working group is collaborating to prepare researchers and the teams who support their research be successful in creating and implementing Data Management and Sharing Plans for NIH-funded studies.

https://research.iu.edu/policies/nih-data-mgmt-sharing-policy.html

Key Resources

IU NIH DMS Plan Guidance: https://datasharing.iupui.edu/nih-dms-plan-guidance.html

IU Considerations for Sharing Research Data: https://forms.office.com/r/ssQjhtD9m3 

Guidelines for specific ICO (Institutes, Centers, and Office)

• NIGMS (National Institute of General Medical Sciences)
  • blog post
  • FAQ
• NCI (National Cancer Institute) blog post
• NIA (National Institute on Aging)
  • data sharing resources
  • NIA-supported data sharing repositories
  • data sharing guidelines
  • blog posts on data sharing
• NIAID (National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases)
  • Deep Dive into DMS
  • DMS Implementation for Contracts
• NICHD (National Institute of Child Health & Human Development) List of Resources
• NIDCR (National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research) FAQ
• NINDS (National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke)
  • Interpretation of NIH DMS Policy
  • Information & Guidance, including recommended data standards​​​​​​​

Benefits to researchers

• Planning for data curation & sharing yields better organized and documented research data, supporting easier use by the project team
• Sharing data allows you and your team to receive credit through citation when the data are reused for future publications, awards, etc.
• Sharing data increases the potential for new collaborations and connections with other researchers
• Sharing data fosters confidence and trust in your work, and you as a scholar
• Preparing data for sharing means that the data is also prepared for your students and trainees to use in developing their own skills and expertise
• Sharing data enables you to comply with funder and publisher requirements 

Benefits to funders & institutions

• Public access to research data can heighten the visibility and reputation of an institution and its scientists and scholars
• An institution that is effective at complying with data sharing guidance improves their researchers' capacity to successfully seek funds and avoid onerous administrative burdens

Benefits to society

• Public access to research data can help accelerate the pace of discovery and its application to societal problems 
• Public access to research data is important to preserving research integrity and maintaining public trust in science by ensuring transparency and facilitating the reproducibility of research results

Source: Association of American Universities and Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (2021). Guide to Accelerate Public Access to Research Data. Washington, DC. CC BY-NC-SA. Available at https://www.aplu.org/library/guide-to-accelerate-access-to-public-data/file

IU Libraries provide support for researchers seeking NIH-funding. We are actively monitoring updates and guidance available from the NIH, as well as the IU Research Data Management Plan Working Group. We will continue to update the information here to reflect those changes. Our support includes:

• data management planning
• selecting the appropriate repository(ies) for sharing data
• planning for documentation that will enable data sharing, and
• some aspects of preparing data for deposit
• support decision-making related to data management and sharing that occurs during project start-up and active conduct of research

We will also connect you with other experts across IU who can help you submit the best DMS Plan possible. We are not able to write DMS Plans on behalf of research teams of which we are not members.

To request a consultation, contact the data librarian for your campus or school:

• Heather Coates, IUPUI - hcoates@iu.edu 
• Levi Dolan, Indiana University School of Medicine - dolanl@iu.edu
• Ethan Fridmanski, Indiana University Bloomington - ejfridma@iu.edu