NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan

Effective January 25, 2023

Overview

NIH has issued the Data Management and Sharing (DMS) policy (effective January 25, 2023) to promote the sharing of scientific data. Sharing scientific data accelerates biomedical research discovery, in part, by enabling validation of research results, providing accessibility to high-value datasets, and promoting data reuse for future research studies.

Under the DMS policy, NIH expects that investigators and institutions:

Plan and budget for the managing and sharing of data
Submit a DMS plan for review when applying for funding
Comply with the approved DMS plan

Individual NIH Institutes, Centers, or Offices may have additional policies and expectations (see NIH Institute and Center Data Sharing Policies).

What studies does the NIH DMS policy apply to?

The DMS Policy applies to all research that generates scientific data, including:

Research Projects
Some Career Development Awards (Ks)
Small Business SBIR/STTR
Research Centers

The DMS Policy does not apply to research and other activities that do not generate scientific data, including:

Training (T)
Fellowships (Fs)
Construction (C06)
Conference Grants (R13)
Resource (Gs)
Research-Related Infrastructure Programs (e.g., S06)

What is Scientific Data?

Scientific Data is defined as data 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 includes any data needed to validate and replicate research findings.
Scientific data does 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.

Elements of the DMS Plan

DMS Plans should address the following recommended elements and are recommended to be two pages or less in length.

1. Data Type 2. Related Tools, Software, and/or Code 3. Standards 4. Data Preservation, Access and Associated Timelines 5. Access, Distribution, or Reuse Considerations 6. Oversight of Data Management and Sharing

Sample DMS Plans

NIH has provided sample DMS Plans as examples of how a DMS Plan could be completed in different contexts, conforming to the elements described above. These sample DMS Plans are provided for educational purposes to assist applicants with developing Plans but are not intended to be used as templates and their use does not guarantee approval by NIH.

Budgeting for DMS

NIH recognizes that making data accessible and reusable for other researchers may incur costs. For that reason, investigators may request funds toward data management and sharing in the budget and budget justification sections of their applications.

Reasonable, allowable costs may be included in NIH budget requests for:

Curating data
Developing supporting documentation
Formatting data according to accepted community standards, or for transmission to and storage at a selected repository for long-term preservation and access
De-identifying data
Preparing metadata to foster discoverability, interpretation, and reuse
Local data management considerations, such as unique and specialized information infrastructure necessary to provide local management and preservation (for example, before deposit into an established repository).
Preserving and sharing data through established repositories, such as data deposit fees.
- If the Data Management & Sharing (DMS) plan proposes deposition to multiple repositories, costs associated with each proposed repository may be included

*Note that all allowable costs submitted in budget requests must be incurred during the performance period, even for scientific data and metadata preserved and shared beyond the award period.