On January 25th, 2023, the new Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy announced by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) became effective. This policy has been adopted by other sponsors. The DMS policy requires all grant applications and proposals to include a DMS plan describing how scientific data generated will be managed and shared. Both new and competing renewals will need to: include a DMS plan; have costs accounted for in the budget; and have progress shared with the sponsor in annual reports.
The purpose for the DMS policy is to foster good data stewardship and promote a cultural shift where good data management and data sharing are the norm. Proper data management and sharing enables the scientific community to verify, extend, and build upon research results.
To support the institution and its investigators in their efforts of data stewardship, UTHealth Houston has created a de novo system to support validation and tracking of data management and sharing plans. The institutional Data Ecosystem Portal for UTHealth Houston (DEPUT) serves as the institutional research DMS plan catalog supported by UTHealth Houston. DEPUT stores persistent identifiers for the datasets in each plan to support DMS validation, tracking and compliance. For data sharing, the use of established repositories is encourage to the extent possible. There are a variety of publicly available repositories as well as a listing of NIH-supported repositories into which investigators can deposit their data.
For the NIH policy see: NOT-OD-21-013 ‘Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing’
Several other sponsors now require data management and sharing plans. Additional detail regarding NIH <Click Here> and other sponsors <Click Here> DMS plan formatting can be found below.
All new and competing NIH grant proposals must include a plan based on the NIH DMS form template. The plan requires six elements including: (1) data type; (2) related tools, software, and/or code; (3) data standards; (4) data preservation, access, and associated timelines; (5) access, distribution, and reuse considerations; (6) oversight of data management and sharing.
The NIH provides comprehensive guidance on writing a DMS plan that describes each of the elements in detail within the Writing a Data Management & Sharing Plan section. Below is UTHealth Houston specific guidance regarding the format of the DMS Plan.
DMS PLAN TOOLS
You can use a variety of tools to write your DMS plan. UTHealth Houston requires you to include specific language in element 6 related to institutional oversight, this language can be found below.
Element 6: ‘Oversight of Data Management and Sharing’: (ALL NIH DMS plans)
The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for the DMS plan. Datasets resulting from this research will be cataloged with in the institutional DEPUT. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for DMS validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual validation according to the DMS plan. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMS plan will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.
- NIH has developed an optional DMS plan format page that aligns with the recommended elements of a DMS plan. We have inserted the institutional guidance for element 6 in the NIH recommended template here Word Template.
- DMPTool: Investigators can use this free customized template tool to assist in drafting a DMS plan. (DMPTool Tutorial)
- Here is a collection of sample plans sorted by NIH Institute or Center.
- Here are some sample plans from recently funded NIH grants
Costs associated with data management and sharing incurred during the performance period can now be charged as direct costs. You must include a brief justification of the proposed activities outlined in the DMS Plan that will incur costs. Include a brief summary of type and amount of scientific data to be preserved and shared, the name of the established repository(ies) to be used, and general cost categories. The recommended length of the justification should be no more than half a page. This justification must be labeled as "Data Management and Sharing Justification".
To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMS policies, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include the following MINIMUM mandatory budget in every grant which requires a DMS plan. $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMS plan.
In addition to the mandatory institutional monitoring fee, there may be additional costs associated with data management and sharing. Please consider including the following items in the budget justification:
- Support needed for curating data and developing supporting documentation, such as formatting for transmission to and storage at a selected repository for long-term preservation and access. If you work with large data sets and employ a data manager, please describe and assign a portion of their effort here with this purpose.
- Data management costs needed for your specific proposal such as repository fees; formatting data according to accepted community standards; de-identifying data; preparing metadata to foster discoverability, interpretation, etc.
- Costs associated with preserving and sharing data including appropriate repository fees or cloud storage fees for data storage necessary for making data available and accessible. As guidance, if a public repository in not available to you and you plan to make use of IT Security approved CLOUD storage, please estimate a budget based on AWS Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) estimated cost of $300/Terabyte per grant year or describe the cost of your alternate solution.
- Additional costs as related to specific project.
Other sponsors have begun to require DMS plans as part of the proposal, with some following NIH formatting and others providing detailed formatting of their own.
Please follow the format provided in the sponsors proposal guidelines. (We will work to share more detailed guidance for several common sponsors soon.)
If a DMS plan is required per the sponsor, the institution will house the plan in DEPUT. To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMS policies, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include the following MINIMUM mandatory budget in every grant which requires a DMS plan. $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMS plan.
Please include the following language regarding institutional oversight:
The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for sharing of data as outlined in this plan. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for data management/ sharing validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual confirmation of data deposition to a repository as indicated in this plan. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMS plan will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.
Other Sponsors DMS Plan Guidance
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Alzheimer’s Association
As part of the full grant application, Alzheimer’s Association requires a DMS plan under 3 pages. Their requirements closely mirror those of the NIH, with the same 6 elements spanning the DMS plan. The suggested format is an amended template of NIH DMS plan. If there are any limitations to data sharing, the applicants need to explain clearly those limitations at the time of application. Costs associated with the management and sharing of research data are allowable expenses.
Depending on the grant program, expectations for the DMS plan may vary slightly and may even require an accompanying budget to accommodate robust DMS plans. Some of the programs will consider the DMS plan in their review and evaluations. In such cases, a robust plan should include information on timelines, feasibility, and the platform(s) and/or mechanisms of sharing. Failure to share data appropriately may impact the investigators’ eligibility to secure future funding.
DMS oversight- Required. Since institutional oversight is needed, UTHealth Houston requires you to include specific language in element 6 related to this as follows:
“The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for the DMS plan. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for DMS validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual validation according to the DMS plan. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMS plan will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.”
DMS costs- Required. To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMS policies, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include a MINIMUM mandatory budget of $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMS plan.
Additional Resources: Alzheimer’s Association DMS plan template.
To ensure you have the latest and the most accurate grant program-specific guidelines, please contact a member of the Alzheimer’s Association Research Grants Team at [email protected].
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American Diabetes Association
Effective January 1, 2018, all applications for American Diabetes Association (ADA) funding must include a DMS plan (open data and resource sharing plan), or a request for waiver that will be evaluated by their Research Grant Review Committee. While mandatory, this plan will NOT impact the application score. A request for waiver may be made for: (1) human subject protection; (2) superseding regulations (laws or institutional policies); or (3) intellectual property (existing IP rights).
There is no specific format for this open data and resource sharing plan. It should be no more than 1 page and should include:
- A brief summary of the data outputs and/or resources the study will generate
- An anticipated data when the data and resources will be shared
- The list of repositories for data sharing
- A brief institutional oversight plan
The results and resources originating from ADA-funded research projects are mandated to be made available to the broader scientific community within a reasonable timeline, i.e., any data that can be shared without compromising human subject protections must be shared to an approved open data repository within 6 months of publication or within 18 months of the conclusion of the funding period, if the study remains unpublished. You may use an unlisted repository pending ADA review. The repository must be stable, secure, free to access and use, provide searchable metadata, and allow applicable file formats
Post-award project reporting requires the grantees to affirm within 18 months of the grant term that the data has been uploaded to an approved repository. Failure to do so may affect their eligibility for any subsequent grant funding from the ADA.
DMS oversight- Required. Since institutional oversight is needed, UTHealth Houston requires you to include specific language related to this as follows:
“The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for the DMS plan. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for DMS validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual validation according to the DMS plan. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMS plan will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.”
DMS costs- Required. To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMS policies, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include a MINIMUM mandatory budget of $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMS plan.
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American Heart Association
The American Heart Association (AHA) does not require a DMS plan for all funding opportunities. Please refer to specific Request for Applications for details. The programs that are not exempt from the AHA Open Data policy requirements will complete a data plan as part of their application. Any factual data that is needed for independent verification of research results must be made freely and publicly available in an AHA-approved repository as soon as possible, and no later than the time of an associated publication or the end of the award period (and any no-cost extension), whichever comes first. Some early career programs are exempt from this policy.
For AHA, the DMS plan is an online form that will be populated with various sections such as:
- What data outputs the research will generate
- Approximate date of when the data will be shared
- Where the data will be made available
- Any limits to data sharing that might be required
- Why this is a strong data plan
When a DMS plan is required, investigators must use an AHA approved repository. Subject-focused repositories, when available, are preferred over general repositories. If a desired repository is not currently approved by the AHA, the applicant may request in the application that the AHA consider the repository for approval (Go to this page and read “Acceptable Repositories” for approval criteria).
Unless exempted, each award should have an active Data Plan in ProposalCentral. The plan should have been submitted with each application, reviewed by AHA staff at award activation, and should be updated and maintained as necessary, throughout the award term.
DMS oversight- NOT Required. At this time, institutional oversight is not required. It is at PI’s discretion to ensure institutional compliance.
Additional Resources: Sample data plans, AHA Approved Data Repositories, FAQs, 2025 AHA Research Funding Application Instructions.
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Center for Disease Control
Beginning FY2017, all Center for Disease Control (CDC)-funded investigators that propose any collection and/or generation of data are required to develop, submit and comply with a Data Management Plan (DMP). This DMP constitutes one of the “Additional Requirements (ARs)”, and the recipients should follow the AR-25 included in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). For NOFOs that involve already defined projects, which include data collection or generation at the time of application, applications submitted without the required DMP may be deemed non-responsive for award. For NOFOs where CDC specifies that submission of the DMP is deferred to a later period, funding restrictions may be imposed pending submission and evaluation of the DMP. Costs associated with developing and implementing a DMP, including costs of sharing, archiving and long-term preservation, may be included in the budget submissions for grants and cooperative agreements.
CDC does NOT currently have a standard DMP form. Each CDC center has its own unique DMP template, and therefore guidance can vary slightly for each of them. However, DMP should include the following information:
- Description of data to be generated or collected
- Standards to be used in generating/collecting data
- Mechanisms and limitations for access to the data
- Standards for data release
- Plan for archiving and long-term preservation
Recipients whose terms of award do not include submitting data to CDC are expected to plan and prepare for access to, and archiving/long-term preservation of, collected and/or generated data within the funding period, as described here.
DMP oversight- Required. Please include a brief description of the institutional oversight where appropriate as follows:
“The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for the DMP. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for DMP validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual validation according to the DMP. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMP will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.”
DMP costs- Required. To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMP, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include a MINIMUM mandatory budget of $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMP.
Additional resources: CDC Policies
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Department of Defense
Since 2016, it has been the Department of Defense (DoD) policy that each project effort includes a Data Management Plan (DMP) as an integral part of research planning. It is “a document that describes which data generated through the course of the proposed research will be shared and preserved and how it will be done. It may explain why data sharing or preservation is not possible or scientifically appropriate, or why the costs of sharing or preservation are incommensurate with the value of doing so.” The DoD will allow for inclusion of costs for data management and access in proposals. They will determine the extent of direct data management and access costs appropriately associated with programs.
The plan describes the scientific data expected to be created or gathered in the course of a research project, plans for preserving data at the outset, keeping in mind the potential utility of the data for future research or to support transition to operational or other environments. Otherwise, the data is lost as researchers move on to other efforts. Generally, the DMP does not exceed 2 pages and does not have a specific format. However, the essential descriptive elements of the DMP include, but are not limited to:
- The types of data, software, curriculum materials, and other materials to be produced in the course of the project that are publicly releasable
- The standards to be used for data and metadata format and content
- Conditions for access and sharing including provisions for appropriate protection of privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights or requirements
- Conditions and provisions for re-use, re-distribution, and the creation of derivative works
- Plans for archiving datasets, or data samples, and other digitally formatted scientific data, and for preservation of access thereto
Since the DoD DMPs have specific basic requirements, applicants should not simply upload a copy of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) DMS Plan. The DoD DMP is submitted under “Supporting Documentation” only if a separate Data Management Attachment is not required by the funding opportunity. Additional information pertinent to the DoD DMP can be found in these documents related to Public Access Plan and STIP.
DMP oversight- Required. Please include a brief description of the institutional oversight where appropriate as follows:
“The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for the DMP. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for DMP validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual validation according to the DMP. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMP will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.”
DMP Costs- Required. To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMP, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include a MINIMUM mandatory budget of $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMP.
Additional Resources: DoD DMP format.
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
As part of the full grant application, NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) requires an Open Science and Data Management Plan (OSDMP). The purpose of an OSDMP is to address the management of Earth science data from the time of their collection/observation to their entry into permanent archives. The OSDMP should be included as a two-page section in the proposal PDF right after the references and citations for the Scientific/Technical/Management section of the proposal. The OSDMP should include the following elements:
- Data Description
- Data Repository
- Timeline for Public Sharing
- Roles and Responsibilities
- Exemptions
If funds are required for data management, they should be included in the normal budget and budget justification sections of the proposal. By the end of 2025, the SMD plans to offer options for long-term hosting of data produced from these awards, such as hosting at NASA or other Federal data repositories. Therefore, do not include the cost of public access or storage beyond the end of the award period in the budget. All scientifically useful data associated with an SMD research award shall be made publicly available by the end of the performance period of the research award or the publication date, whichever is earlier.
OSDMP Oversight- Required. Please include a brief description of the institutional oversight where appropriate as follows: “The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for the DMP. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for DMP validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual validation according to the DMP. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMP will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.”
OSDMP Costs- Required. To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMP, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include a MINIMUM mandatory budget of $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMP.
Additional Resources: NASA OSDMP Template, Earth Data, OSDMP details
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National Science Foundation
U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded 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 awards. These grant applications require a supplementary Data Management and Sharing plan under ‘Special Information and Supplementary Documentation’. This will be “considered under Intellectual Merit or Broader Impacts or both, as appropriate for the scientific community of relevance”. Applications that do not contain a DMS plan will not be reviewed.
DMS plan is expected to detail how the proposal will adhere to the NSF policy on dissemination and sharing of research results. NSF has provided an optional DMS plan format page that contains the recommended elements. It is recommended not to exceed 2 pages. If there is a need for more space, the applicants are allowed to use the space from their 15-page project description. If the proposed project is NOT expected to generate data, the applicants must include a document justifying this in lieu of the DMS plan.
Post-award project reporting should include: (1) data produced during the reporting period; (2) how the data were disseminated; (3) where the data generated by the project were deposited and being stored for long-term public access; (4) the standards that were used to make the data available to others, including data format and any metadata; and (5) unique, resolvable, and persistent identifiers (such as Digital Object Identifiers [DOIs]; Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), or similar) for each publicly released product referenced in the report.
Changes to the original DMS plan need to be discussed with the managing Program Director and should be reported in the Changes/Problems section of the annual or final project report. Prior DMS plan implementation will be considered during evaluation of subsequent NSF proposal submissions.
DMS oversight- Required. Please include a brief description of the institutional oversight where appropriate as follows:
“The Office of the Executive Vice President & Chief Academic Officer (EVP/CAO) and The Office of Data Science (ODS) at UTHealth Houston will provide joint institutional oversight for the DMS plan. DEPUT is the institutional oversight management portal supported by UTHealth Houston for DMS validation and tracking. Project Contact PI will update data status in DEPUT, and the institutional office of Sponsored Projects Administration (SPA) will perform annual validation according to the DMS plan. Validation results will be maintained in DEPUT. Noncompliance with the DMS plan will be identified with appropriate correcting measures implemented. The PI will have overall responsibility for compliance with data collection, storage, and safety protocols.”
DMS costs- Required. To support institutional compliance and monitoring of DMS policies, UTHealth Houston requires PIs to include a MINIMUM mandatory budget of $1200 per grant year to support annual institutional monitoring of the DMS plan.
Additional resources: NSF DMS Plan Template
Please read the attached statement regarding data sharing and intellectual property.
Need Assistance with NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy?
Several groups on campus will play a role in assuring UTHealth Houston and its researchers are ready to meet these new policy changes. Please direct any questions you have to [email protected].
Please include the following information in your email:
- PI name
- Department
- Funding agency
- UTStart proposal number, if available.