Data Management and Sharing Plans: Home

In 2022, the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy released a memo recommending that federal agencies update their public access policies by the end of 2025 "to make publications and their supporting data resulting from federally funded research publicly accessible." Federal funding agencies have accordingly released (or will release) updated public access policies that will take effect in 2025. These policies vary by agency and even by directorates within agencies but generally require that investigators and institutions:

• Plan and budget for the managing and sharing of data
• Submit a DMS plan for review when applying for funding
• Comply with the approved DMS plan
• Provide public access to all publications and data produced by federally funded research immediately without embargo
  • "Data" is broadly defined as "the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research findings,” including observations, calibrations, coefficients, documentation, algorithms, software used to generate research findings, and data underlying figures, maps, and tables.

Example Federal Agency Public Access and Implementation Plans

For other agencies and departments, visit Public Access Plans & Guidance Overview on Science.gov. SPARC also notes agency updates on 2022 Updates OSTP Policy Guidance.

All federal funding agencies' policies require a clear and effective data management and sharing plan. Fondren Library provides researchers access to the DMP Tool, which provides data management plan templates that can be customized for an investigator's project. 

To get started, log on to the DMP Tool website using your Rice email for SSO. Within the site's Help area, there is a Quick Start Guide that orients you to the tool. 

When creating a new plan for a proposal, select "Rice University (rice.edu)" as "the primary research organization" and search for "the primary funding organization" that you are applying to to access a template that provides guidance and recommended language consistent with the new agency's policy. 

We recommend keeping "DMPTool" as a source of guidance within the "Select Guidance" area of the Project Details page. Rice resources and supplementary recommendations (where applicable) also appear in the guidance section of the template.

Some DMP elements depend heavily on the specifics of a research project and the nature of the data being collected. As you develop your plan, consider the following:

• How large is the dataset? 
• What level of security will data storage require?
• With whom will be the data be shared during the project? After the project?

Rice's Information Technology department provides information about data storage options at Rice. Please contact the Center for Research Computing to discuss your needs and possible solutions as you are developing your DMS plan.

Rice Resources

Rice's Policy on Research Data Management (#308) provides Rice-specific guidance on managing and sharing research data.

Fondren Library's guidance on Managing Research Data.

The Office of Research Development's guidance on Data Management Plans.

Research Data Service's presentation materials:

NIH Resources

NIH's Scientific Data Sharing website contains a wealth of resources to support the development and implementation of data management and sharing plans. Top resources include the following:

• Research covered under the 2023 policy (applicable to proposals submitted between January 25, 2023, and December 31, 2025): summary of how NIH handles the sharing of proprietary data
• Tools for planning and budgeting: data management and sharing plans and what costs can be included in a proposal
• Data management guidance: best practices in data management.
• Resources for sharing scientific data: data sharing approaches and information on selecting a data repository
• Informed consent for secondary research with data and biospecimens: considerations and sample language.
• Policy FAQs

NIH also provides information about other data sharing policies:

• Genomic data sharing policy
• 2003 data sharing policy (applicable to proposals submitted before January 25, 2023)

DMS Guidance and Templates from Other Universities

• NSF Data Management Plans - University of Illinois
• Data Management Plan Templates - University of Michigan