The NIH has issued a Data Management and Sharing (DMS) policy, effective Jan. 25, 2023, to promote the sharing of scientific data. The new policy overhauls the existing 20-year-old policy and reflects both a commitment to open science and the technological advancements that permit data sharing on a national scale. Under the new DMS policy, NIH investigators will plan prospectively for the managing and sharing of scientific data, submit a DMS plan and comply with the approved plan.
CCTS Partner Institutions are among the top NIH-funded institutions in the country, so the policy will affect many investigative teams. Adherence to the policy is critical to receiving NIH funding in the future, and the benefits of following the policy are numerous: Following a DMS will increase the rigor, reproducibility and transparency of research and create open access to data.
How this will affect research
Implementing the policy means that each principal investigator will have to create a data management plan in order to submit a grant application. Investigators will be expected to maximize sharing of the data generated from NIH-funded research by depositing it in an appropriate data repository. Each plan must address six elements:
1. Describe the data and metadata that will be used or generated, and which data will be shared.
2. Describe any specialized tools, software or code necessary to access shared data.
3. Explain which data standards will be used.
4. Name the data repository and state when data will be shared.
5. Explain any limitations to data sharing and any protective measures for sensitive data.
6. Delegate who in the research group is responsible for overseeing the DMS.
At the CCTS Hub, the UAB Office of Sponsored Programs will verify the inclusion and review the plan prior to submission.
Support for Investigative teams
A recent webinar hosted by the Center for Clinical & Translational Science addresses specific details on how to prepare and is archived for review on the CCTS Video Channel, and the UAB Libraries website contains detailed information and links to resources. The CCTS has also partnered with successfully funded investigators from across its Partner Network to develop this compendium of best practice grant writing samples.
Katie Bradford
December 5, 2022