LibGuides: Research Data Management: Data Mandates

Directive to Expand Public Access

Federal agencies have begun releasing plans that outline the requirements for publicly funded research to be made public. These plans apply to both the publications and the scientific data used in the research. A major component of these plans is the requirement that researchers provide a data management plan as part of a grant application. The data management plan will become one of the criteria by which grants are evaluated.

Oregon State provides links to each agency's Federal Public Access Plan, and updates the list as new ones are released.

National Science Foundation (NSF) Data Management Plan

The National Science Foundation requires a two-page Data Management Plan to be submitted with every grant application. Researchers are expected to share their primary research data in a timely and efficient manner. The data management plan should facilitate sharing, and the plan will be considered as part of the overall merit of the grant.

The NSF states that:

"This supplement [data management plan] should describe how the proposal will conform to NSF policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results (see AAG Chapter VI.D.4), and may include:
the types of data, samples, physical collections, software, curriculum materials, and other materials to be produced in the course of the project;
the standards to be used for data and metadata format and content (where existing standards are absent or deemed inadequate, this should be documented along with any proposed solutions or remedies);
policies for access and sharing including provisions for appropriate protection of privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights or requirements;
policies and provisions for re-use, re-distribution, and the production of derivatives; and
plans for archiving data, samples, and other research products, and for preservation of access to them."

Each directorate of the NSF is drafting its own data management guidelines, these quidelines are available here. The norms of each discipline will guide what standards and sharing mechanisms will be expected for NSF-funded data. The NSF FAQ page provides further guidance.

See also, the Association for Research Libraries' Guide to the NSF Data Sharing Policy.

Public Access to Results of NSF-funded Research

The National Science Foundation has developed a plan to increase public access to scientific publications and digital scientific data resulting from research funded by NSF This plan, entitled “Today’s Data, Tomorrow’s Discoveries,” is consistent with the objectives set forth in the Office of Science and Technology Policy's Feb. 22, 2013, memorandum, "Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Science," and with long-standing policies encouraging data sharing and communication of research results.

NSF require that either the version of record or the final accepted manuscript in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and papers in juried conference proceedings or transactions must:

Be deposited in a public access compliant repository designated by NSF; NSF requires principal investigators who publish peer-reviewed journal articles or juried conference papers to deposit a copy of the items (either the final accepted version or the version of record in the NSF public access repository hosted by the Department of Energy (DOE). The NSF public access repository is expected to be available for voluntary compliance by the end of the 2015 calendar year. At this time, NSF has not formally adopted ISO 16363, a recommended practice for assessing the trustworthiness of digital repositories. As outlined in NSF's public access plan (section 7.7), "DOE stores and preserves the information in a dark archive in a climate-controlled, appropriate environment in Oak Ridge, TN, with redundant, backup systems in geographically distinct locations. DOE accommodates both the widely used non-proprietary PDF and PDF/A formats and can convert material in PDF to PDF/A, should the need arise."
Be available for download, reading and analysis free of charge no later than 12 months after initial publication;
Possess a minimum set of machine-readable metadata elements in a metadata record to be made available free of charge upon initial publication;
Be managed to ensure long-term preservation; and
Be reported in annual and final reports during the period of the award with a persistent identifier that provides links to the full text of the publication as well as other metadata elements.

These requirement will apply to new awards resulting from proposals submitted, or due, on or after the effective date of the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that will be issued in January 2016.

NSF's current data management plan requirement and policies on costs of publication and data citation in biographical sketches will remain unchanged for the present while NSF undertakes activities to engage the research communities around data management in support of public access goals. Additional guidance at the Foundation, directorate, division, office or program levels may become available in the future. As stipulated in section 3.a.ii of the OSTP Feb. 22, 2013, memorandum, NSF's plan (section 7.5) discusses a "mechanism for stakeholders to petition for changing the embargo period."

See: Public Access To Results of NSF-funded Research for additional details.