June 22, 2023: Taunton Paine Discusses New NIH Data Sharing Policy at Annual Steering Committee Meeting

Posted on by Karen Staman
Photo of Taunton Paine
Taunton Paine, Director of the NIH Scientific Data Sharing Policy Division

At the annual NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory Steering Committee meeting in May, we interviewed Taunton Paine, director of the NIH Scientific Data Sharing Policy Division, about the NIH’s new Data Management & Sharing Policy, which took effect in 2023.

Under the new policy, all NIH-funded research requires a submission plan that describes how, where, and when data will be shared.

“We want to advance the rigor and reproducibility of research and promote public trust in research,” Paine said. He highlighted some key points to help researchers comply with the new policy:

  • Scope: The policy applies to all NIH-supported research generating scientific data of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research.
  • When: Share data no later than publication or end of award (for data underlying findings not published in peer-reviewed journals).
  • Where: For suggested repositories, see NIH-supported data repository list. It is also acceptable to use other repositories.

“The number  one thing I would recommend for investigators is to look at sharing.nih.gov for guidance on how to write a data management and sharing plan, example plans, guidance about repositories, and frequently asked questions,” Paine said.

One key difference between the new policy and the 2003 Data Sharing Policy is that there is much more guidance and support.

“The new data management and sharing policy has a lot more guidance about what we are asking people to do and what’s acceptable. It also has information about  monitoring and compliance mechanisms,” Paine said

NIH Pragmatic Trials Collaboratory leadership advocated for data sharing in an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, suggesting that data sharing is not rising to its potential. At the Steering Committee meeting, investigators from the NIH Collaboratory Trials reviewed their trials’ data sharing plans and discussed potential barriers, a process that the program has used to bring planning for data sharing to the forefront.

For more information on data sharing and pragmatic trials, see the Data Sharing and Embedded Research chapter of the Living Textbook.

In the coming weeks, we will share more interviews with program leaders from the 2023 Steering Committee meeting. All of the materials from the 2023 Steering Committee meeting are now available.