Notice Number: NOT-OD-20-013

Key Dates
Release Date: November 06, 2019
Response Date: January 10, 2020

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

Background

NIH’s mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. Sharing scientific data advances this mission by enhancing NIH’s stewardship of taxpayer funds and maximizing research participants’ contributions. Moreover, increasing access to scientific data resulting from NIH-funded and conducted research advances biomedical research by enabling the validation of scientific results, allowing analyses to be strengthened by combining data, facilitating reuse of hard-to-generate data, and accelerating future research.

As announced in the Federal Register, NIH is seeking public input on its proposed DRAFT NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing and supplemental DRAFT guidance documents, including ways to promote access to research findings while minimizing burden on the research community. NIH has a long history of making the products of Federally-funded research available to the public. To further these aims, NIH publicly announced its intent to encourage broad data sharing in 2015 with the release of the NIH Plan for Increasing Access to Scientific Publications and Digital Scientific Data from NIH Funded Scientific Research and further stakeholder input was sought via the 2017 NIH Request for Information (RFI): Strategies for NIH Data Management, Sharing, and Citation (NOT-OD-17-015). NIH shared its initial proposed policy provisions for a future draft data management and sharing policy in 2018 through its Request for Information (RFI) on Proposed Provisions for a Draft Data Management and Sharing Policy for NIH Funded or Supported Research (NOT-OD-19-014).

Information Requested

NIH is seeking public comments on a DRAFT NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing and supplemental DRAFT guidance. The purpose of this DRAFT policy and guidance is to promote effective and efficient data management and sharing to further NIH’s commitment to making the results and accomplishments of the research it funds and conducts available to the public. NIH encourages feedback on the utility of these supplemental DRAFT guidance documents and any additional guidance to help researchers integrate data management and sharing practices into routine research. In addition, NIH recognizes that there may be unique circumstances in which broad data sharing may not be appropriate (i.e., particularly sensitive data or data restricted by certain Federal, Tribal, state, and local laws, regulations, etc.) and encourages input on identifying strategies for promoting responsible data management and sharing practices in these circumstances. Feedback obtained through this Notice and other outreach efforts will help inform a final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing, which upon the effective date, would replace the 2003 NIH Data Sharing Policy.

How to Submit a Response

Comments should be submitted electronically to the following webpage: https://osp.od.nih.gov/draft-data-sharing-and-management. Responses will be accepted through January 10, 2020. 
Unedited comments will be compiled and may be posted, along with the submitter’s name and affiliation, on the NIH Office of Science Policy web site after the public comment period closes. Submitted comments are considered public information. Please do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information in your response.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

NIH Office of Science Policy
[email protected]