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Dr. Margarita Corral - Data Analysis Specialist
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Ford Fishman - Data Analysis Specialist for Science
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will require researchers to submit a data management and sharing plan (DMSP) with all grant applications beginning in January 2023. This guide describes this new policy and links to some useful resources that will help you in your application process.
All new applications or renewals submitted on or after January 25, 2023 that generate scientific data must include a Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMSP). Scientific data is defined in the new policy as the following: “The recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research findings, regardless of whether the data are used to support scholarly publications. Scientific data do not include laboratory notebooks, preliminary analyses, completed case report forms, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer reviews, communications with colleagues, or physical objects, such as laboratory specimens.”
To check if your research is covered by the 2023 policy, please consult the NIH's guidelines regarding coverage.
The DMSP is similar to what other funding institutions call a Data Management Plan (DMP). It is a document that includes information about how the data will be stored, procedures to access and preserve the data, the metadata describing it, and sharing approaches.
NIH requires a two or less page plan containing the following information:
This DMSP will be assessed by NIH program staff.
Please view this DMSP template directly provided by the NIH. We recommend searching for a template for your specific institute if more guidance is needed.
Various examples based on the 2023 policy provided by NIMH.
You can also view this template from Open Science Framework.
DMPTool helps researchers create and share data management plans that meet institutional and funder requirements. You can create a free account with your Brandeis login credentials.
We recommend using DMPTool for constructing your DMSP. Please use the NIH 2023 template when constructing your DMSP.
NIH recommends that researchers deposit their data into a public data repository for long-term storage and access. NIH institutes may have specific preferred repositories for funded research. Check the institute-specific policies or consult your program officer to find more information. If there is not a preferred data repository for your project, these directories are a good place to start searching for one:
Also, you can check out the lists of NIH-supported domain-specific and generalist repositories.
For small datasets you can deposit your data into Brandeis ScholarWorks. Please contact librarypublishing@brandeis.edu for more information.
You may include costs to execute your DMSP as a part of your grant application. Please see the following document to differentiate between allowable and unallowable costs.
To help you estimate these costs you can check out these resources:
Some data cannot be shared due to legal and/or confidentiality concerns. If this is the case for aspects of your data, please clarify which elements of your data cannot be shared and why in your DMSP. Please view the following examples for language regarding data you cannot share:
Similarly, you may propose to use data that were previously reported in another study or data in public databases. If so, please clearly state that the data were previously collected, as well as the source of the data. For an example of such data in a DMSP, please view the following:
Element 6 of the DMSP describes how compliance and oversight will be managed for your plan. Please use the suggested language below for element 6:
The Office of Research Administration at Brandeis University will collect Data Management and Sharing Plans that are submitted to NIH. The Vice Provost for Research, to whom that office reports, will be the institutional official in charge of overseeing compliance with these plans. The plans and their implementation will be reviewed annually and if necessary revised.
To double check that you have everything you need in your DMSP, please go through this checklist provided by Open Science Framework.
Guide adapted from University of Arizona Data Cooperative.
