NIH Data Sharing Policy

Overview

Data sharing promotes many of the goals of NIH by allowing scientists to expedite the translation of research results into knowledge, products and procedures to improve human health. As of October 1, 2003 investigators submitting an application to NIH requesting $500,000 or more of direct costs in any single year, are expected to include a plan for sharing final research data for research purposes or state why data sharing is not possible. The plan should be provided in the form of a brief paragraph (longer if necessary) following the Research Plan section.

What Does NIH Say?

Final NIH Statement on Sharing Research Data (2/26/2003)

Data Sharing Regulations/Policy/Guidance Chart for NIH Awards (MS Word)

NIH Data Sharing Policy and Implementation Guidance

Frequently Asked Questions - Data Sharing

Data Sharing Workbook (PDF)

Data Sharing Plans

Examples from NIH

Examples from University of Rochester Guidance on Developing Research Data Sharing Plans (PDF, See Attachment, pages 1-6)

Using UR Research to Share Data

UR Research is a web-based University repository that may assist investigators in fulfilling data sharing requirements. While not appropriate for extremely large datasets, UR Research is a viable option for datasets in the 200-300 MB range. For more information, see University of Rochester Guidance on Developing Research Data Sharing Plans, pages 2-4.