NIH Issues Final Data Management and Sharing Policy

By: Yvette Seger
Wednesday, November 4, 2020

On October 29, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced its long-awaited final policy on Data Management and Sharing. This policy will apply to all research funded or conducted by NIH that results in the generation of scientific data and will go into effect on January 25, 2023.

The final policy represents a stepwise and comprehensive process during which a wide range of stakeholders, including FASEB, were engaged. To achieve the goal of creating a policy flexible enough to cover the breadth of research activities supported by NIH while fostering a culture of data sharing, the final policy requires submission of a Data Management and Sharing Plan at the time of application.

To assist the community in preparing for this new requirement, NIH released supplementary guidance documents on the elements of a data management and sharing plan; allowable costs; and selecting a data repository in concert with the new policy. The NIH Office of Science Policy indicated development of additional tools and resources during the two-year implementation period to ensure compliance.