The data management and sharing plan must be included as part of your award application, and can be no longer than 2 pages. (An optional data management and sharing plan format page is included in the list of Format Pages and is incorporated into updated
FORMS-H application instructions).
Your plan needs to describe how you will manage scientific data that is collected, and how you intend to make that data available to other research teams. Once approved by the agency's scientific program staff, the plan becomes part of the terms and conditions of your award, and you are required to follow it as written. Any changes will require approval from the program staff.
UTMB subscribes to the DMP Tool that helps you write your plan with ease.
Elements of a Data Management and Sharing Plan
Data Type
The description of the data to be preserved and shared. Summarize the types of data you are collecting and the amount that will be generated. You also need to specify which data will be preserved and shared. The NIH does not expect you to preserve and
share ALL scientific data generated. You need to decide which scientific data to preserve and share based on the ethical, legal and technical factors. Such factors include informed consent conditions, privacy or safety of participants, contractual
exceptions or explicit laws that prohibit disclosure.
While there are some limitations, the expectation is that your plan will be designed to maximize appropriate sharing.
Related Tools, Software, and/or Code
Your plan needs to include the related tools, software and/or code that are needed to access or manipulate the shared data. This supports the reuse or replication of data. Include the names of the needed tools and software, and how to obtain these resources.
Standards
You must outline the data standards you apply to the data and associated metadata, such as data formats, dictionaries, identifiers, definitions and other documentation.
Data Preservation, Access & Associated Timelines
You need to include the name of the repository you will use to archive the data, and how the data will be found and identifiable.
When considering a repository, you want to consider the following criteria:
- Unique persistent identifiers
- Long-term sustainability
- Metadata
- Curation and quality assurance
- Free and easy access
- Broad and measured reuse
- Clear use guidance
- Security and integrity
- Confidentiality
- Common format
- Provenance
- Retention policy
Once you identify a repository, your plan will need to include a timeline of when the scientific data will be made available and how long it will be available.
When selecting a repository, be sure to check out the SPARC website. It is a free tool that will help guide you through selecting the repository most appropriate for your research and budget. NIH also has a list of more than 70 NIH-supported repositories.
The NIH encourages scientific data to be shared as soon as possible, but no later than the time of publication or end of performance period, whichever comes first. It should be available
for as long as you anticipate it being useful to the larger scientific community.
Access, Distribution, or Reuse Considerations
include any factors related to informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, any applicable laws or regulations, and any other factors limiting the extent to which your data can be shared. Any exclusions of data must be justified and that justification must be included in the plan.
Oversight of Data Management & Sharing
This section spells out the details relating to how you manage and monitor the data you collect, and ensure that sharing happens according to the timeline you have set.