Key Dates

Related Announcements

•   August 12, 2026 – Notice of NIH Updates to Career Development (K) Award Programs. See Notice (NOT-OD-26-098)
•   July 29, 2026 – Implementation Update: NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan Requirements. See Notice (NOT-OD-26-100)
•   October 29, 2020 – Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing. See Notice (NOT-OD-21-013)
 

Issued by

Office of The Director, National Institutes of Health (OD)

Purpose

Background
On August 12, 2026, NIH issued NOT-OD-26-098, announcing several updates to NIH Career Development (K) Award programs. One update stated that K awards would no longer require a Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan for application due dates on or after October 12, 2027.  This change was announced because K awards focus on career development and do not provide primary support for research projects. Removing this requirement reduces administrative burden for applicants and institutions while better aligning K award expectations with their core career development purpose.  NIH continues to be steadfast in its commitment to advancing data sharing where appropriate.  

Purpose
The purpose of this notice is to update the implementation timeline from October 12, 2027, to effective immediately. Therefore, DMS Plans are no longer required for NIH Career Development (K) awards, as follows: 

• Active K award recipients are not required to submit or update a DMS Plan, including through the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR).
• Applicants with pending K award applications (i.e., those already submitted) are not required to submit a DMS Plan or to provide an updated or revised DMS Plan as part of the pre-award process, including at Just-in-Time.
• Applicants submitting future K award applications (i.e., those planning to submit) are not required to submit a DMS Plan.

NIH will not consider the absence of a DMS Plan to be noncompliant with the DMS policy.
All other applicable provisions and dates in NOT-OD-26-098 remain unchanged.
NIH will update applicable funding opportunities, application instructions, award guidance, and other relevant materials, as appropriate, to reflect this change.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Please direct DMS policy inquiries to:

Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
Division of Grants Compliance and Oversight
National Institutes of Health
[email protected] 

Please direct programmatic inquiries unrelated to the DMS policy requirement to:

Division of Biomedical Research Workforce
Office of Extramural Research
National Institutes of Health
[email protected]