A selection of guides, toolkits, and other resources for librarians working on addressing the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.
Policy Resources
Many of the resources in this toolkit were developed by the NIH DMSP Guidance Working Group of over 25 information professionals whose goal is to collect and create implementation guidance for the NIH DMS Policy to help researchers and research support staff (e.g. librarians, offices of research, etc.).
Policy
- Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing
- This policy requires all applicable research funded by the NIH to include a two-page "Data Management and Sharing Plan" that describes how the scientific data will be managed and shared.
- Policy Readiness Checklist for Librarians
- This policy readiness document created by the NIH DMSP Guidance Working Group is intended to be used by librarians who will be assisting researchers with the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.
- Genomic Data Sharing Policy
- The NIH is working on harmonizing the requirements of the DMS Policy with this existing Genomic Data Sharing Policy. Genomic data sharing considerations should be described in DMS Plans using the DMS Plan elements and will be reviewed by NIH Program Staff. More details can be found in NIH notices NOT-OD-22-198 and NOT-OD-22-029.
Data Management and Sharing Plans
- Writing a Data Management and Sharing Plan
- Information provided by NIH about what needs to be included in a Data Management & Sharing Plan.
- Data Management and Sharing Plan Checklist for Researchers
- This checklist created by the NIH DMSP Guidance Working Group addresses the six required elements in the NIH policy.
- The Data Management Plan Tool (DMPTool)
- This is a free, open-source, online application that helps researchers create data management plans (DMPs). The tool in includes a template for the NIH DMSP and the DMPTool Blog provides up-to-date information on the DMPTool.
- Draft Data Management and Sharing Plan Template
- Download a free fillable Word document from the NIH of the Data Management and Sharing Plan Format Page.
- NIH Sample Data Management Plans
- The NIH has provided sample DMPs that are consistent with the expectations in both the NIMH and NIH Notices. These include examples from clinical, human and non-human genetics, and secondary use DMPs.
- Example DMS Plans
- This example DMP directory was compiled from researchers, institutions, libraries and workgroups who shared their data management plans online from 2012-2022. It is intended to help researchers comply with the new NIH policy and will not be updated after publishing.
Data Sharing
- NNLM Data Repository Finder
- This tool developed by the NNLM National Center for Data Services is meant to help locate NIH-supported repositories for sharing research data. Users can answer questions about their data to search for appropriate data repositories and compare the details of multiple repositories on the same page.
- NIH-Supported Data Sharing Resources
- To help researchers locate an appropriate repository for sharing or accessing data, BMIC maintains lists of data sharing repositories.
- NIH-supported Scientific Data Repositories
- While the NIH does not endorse or require sharing data in any particular repository, it does provide this list of repositories along with guidance on Selecting a Data Repository.
- NIH STRIDES Initiative
- NIH STRIDES aims to modernize biomedical research by reducing economic and process barriers in utilizing commercial cloud services. This is one of many NIH-wide efforts to implement the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science, which provides a roadmap for modernizing the NIH-funded biomedical data science ecosystem.
- Resources for De-identification of Human Subjects Research Data
- De-identified data may need to be shared to adhere to the new NIH DMS Policy. Johns Hopkins’ provides this list of suggested tools, including the NLM Scrubber for Clinical Text De-Identification.
- Joint FORCE11 & COPE Research Data Publishing Ethics Working Group Flowcharts
- These charts help guide the handling of cases that may arise in relation to the publication of research data. You can read more about this resource from this blog post.
Costs
- NIH Allowable Costs for Data Management and Sharing
- This provides details on the types of data-related budgeting that can be included in the budget justification sections of grant applications.
- Forecasting Costs for Preserving, Archiving, and Promoting Access to Biomedical Data
- NIH recommends reviewing this study in order to properly budget for data management and sharing costs.
Classes
- NCDS On Demand Webinars
- This webinar series introduces the NIH requirements for data management and sharing, including “practitioner perspectives” – i.e., data librarians sharing their opportunities, barriers, methods, and successes as they work toward improving data management practices at their institutions.
- NNLM Research Data Management On Demand
- If you would like to learn research data management in general, you can explore topics such as open science and data science, data curation and documentation, data security, storage and preservation, and data sharing and publishing in these classes that you can take at your own pace.
Glossaries
- Data Terms related to the NIH DMS Plan and Policy
- This is a guide to terminology used in the NIH DMSP. It includes links to various resources for additional information.
- NNLM National Center for Data Services Data Glossary
- This resource is created and maintained by the NCDS and connects and defines concepts, services, and tools relevant to librarians working in data-driven discovery.
- Research Data Management Terminology
- The goal of this guide from the Committee on Data of the International Science Council is to gather the key terms needed for a common understanding of the research data management domain.
- Toolkit for Patient-Focused Therapy Development
- The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences developed this glossary of terms related to rare disease communities in treatment development.