Introducing NIH’s New Scientific Data Sharing Website

I am very pleased to announce the availability of a new website on Scientific Data Sharing. Whether you are involved in an NIH-funded project and want to understand which sharing policies apply to your research and how to comply, or you are a researcher looking to access scientific data from NIH-affiliated repositories, this site is for you.

NIH has a long-standing commitment to making the research it funds available to the public. This commitment is demonstrated through a variety of sharing policies that function to increase the transparency and availability of scientific data and resources.  NIH policies expect:

• The appropriate sharing of scientific data to be maximized
• Data from large scale genomic studies to be broadly and responsibly shared
• Research tools developed with NIH funding to be made accessible to other researchers
• Unique model organisms to be made available to the scientific community
• Clinical trials to be registered and summary results reported in ClinicalTrials.gov
• Peer reviewed manuscripts to be publicly available on PubMed Central

The new website will help you navigate these policies, providing you with step-by-step guides, infographics, tools and resources to help you on your way. In the case of clinical trials and public access policies, the site provides a central access point and visibility to these policies, and links out to existing NIH sites for more information.

A key goal of the site is to serve as a central portal, providing information on both NIH-wide and NIH Institute and Center-specific sharing policies and data repositories in a way that is easily sortable and searchable. You may have seen the short video preview of the site we released last week to pique your interest.  The video below provides a more extensive tour (~3 min), highlighting key features and resources.

Over the next few months, in preparation for the new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy that goes into effect for applications due on or after January 25, 2023, we will be adding a number of resources to the site including: sample sharing plans, tips for taking data sharing into consideration when developing your budget, additional FAQs, and more. We’ll be sure to let you know when these new resources are released through the Nexus and other channels. We are also planning on a two-part webinar series on the new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy to be held this summer to walk the community through the details of the new policy and answer questions, the recording of which will also be available on the website. Interested in an early heads up about webinar registration?

The site will regularly feature new and existing resources, events, and tools from across NIH, so check back regularly to see what’s new on the Resources section of the home page and the News and Events page! Have questions about sharing and accessing data? The Contacts and Help page on the new site will help you identify who you might reach out to when in need of assistance.

Thank you to the many, many people at NIH and in the broader extramural community who helped us develop requirements and user test early versions of the site.  Your assistance has been invaluable.

Let us know what you think of the new site. We welcome suggestions. Each page of the site provides an opportunity for you to let us know what is working and what we can improve.