Two important policy developments re: federal data access/sharing policies

[Fern Davies]

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Today, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy requested that interested individuals and organizations provide recommendations on approaches for ensuring long-term stewardship and

encouraging broad public access to unclassified digital data that result from federally funded scientific research.

 

In short: data archiving and sharing.

 

The notice is attached.

 

A multi-agency working group has been formed to consider steps that can be taken by Federal agencies to encourage and coordinate the development of agency policies and standards to promote long term preservation of and access to digital data resulting from federally funded scientific research. Ideally, such policies would harmonize, to the extent practicable and feasible, data management plans for digital data that are collected or otherwise produced either by the agency itself or extramurally with Federal funds.

 

Meanwhile, NSF in January 2011 reaffirmed its data management policy requirement,

indicating that proposals must include a Data Management Plan that describes how funded researchers will conform to NSF policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results. The NSF

policy is clear that ‘‘Investigators are expected to share with other researchers, at no more than

incremental cost and within a reasonable time, the primary data, samples, physical collections and other supporting materials created or gathered in the course of work under NSF grants.’’ Such models may not necessarily be appropriate for all types of federally sponsored research.

OSTP-Data access notice.pdf