Research Data Management: Funding Agency Guidelines

This guide provides information on data management resources and services for the CSUSB community.

Other Funder Resources

SPARC maintains a great tool for comparing federal agency requirements on data sharing. You can select and compare up to three agencies at a time.
Research Data Services (University of Wisconsin-Madison) maintains a list of federally-funded agencies that includes embargo periods for publications and data results.

"Open Access" vs. "Public Access"

Some federally-funded agencies, notably the National Institutes of Health (NIH), require that published research be made publicly available through designated repositories or platforms (in the case of the NIH, this means PubMed Central). Such repositories are referred to as "public access" repositories since they meet the specific guidelines of those federally-funded agencies.

"Open Access" refers, more generally, to digital information that is online, free of charge, and free, in varying degrees, of most copyright and licensing restrictions. Open Access resources typically permit users to download, copy, print, display, distribute, search, index, and link to the information. Open Access resources remain the intellectual property of their creators, who have attribution rights as well as control over the integrity of their work.

You might also take a look at Peter Suber's "Open Access Overview".

Please note that while "Open Access" resources are free and open to the public, they may not meet the "Public Access" requirements of your particular funding agency. See the grant guidelines of your specific funder to determine what, if any, requirements or repositories are mandated.

Funding Agency Guidelines

Nearly all federal funding agencies require some level of public access and data management plans for grant proposals. Each federal agency or private sponsor of research may have other requirements related to sharing of data and other research products. Be certain to review all requirements of your grant application. Below is a list of policies for some major sponsors of research.

If there are other funding agencies that you would like to include on this page, please email jennifer.beamer@csusb.edu

SPARC also lets you view data sharing requirements by federal agency and compare them.

Note that on August 25, 2022 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a new set of guidelines for providing public access to all federally-funded research products, including data. See the memo below for more details.

OSTP Public Access Memo (August 2022)

Funding Agency (Alphabetical Order)	Data Management Guidelines or Policies
Agency for International Development (USAID)	USAID's Open Data Policy
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation	Grant Proposal Guidelines (see the "Information Products" appendix)
American Heart Association	Open Science Policy Statements for AHA Funded Research
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation	Open Access Policy
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)	Standards to Facilitate Data Sharing and Use of Surveillance Data for Public Health Action
Department of Agriculture (USDA)	Implementation Plan to Increase Public Access to Results
Department of Defense (DOD)	Plan to Establish Public Access
Department of Energy (DOE)	Statement on Digital Data Management Note: Some Program Offices provide distinct guidance for researchers preparing DMPs; be sure to consult the guidance from the office to which you are applying.
Department of Transportation (DOT
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)	Plan for Public Access to Scientific Publications and Digital Data
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)	Plan to Increase Access to Results
Geological Survey (USGS)	Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation	Data Sharing Philosophy
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)	Research Policies/Sharing Published Materials
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)	Implementation Guide for Public Access to Research Data
Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS)	see specific grant guidelines for details
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)	NASA Data Management Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities/Office of Digital Humanities (NEH-ODH)	Blog post by NEH-ODH staff on their guidelines of managing and sustaining project assets
National Institutes of Health (NIH)/Dept. of Health and Human Services	Data Management and Sharing Policy
National Institute of Justice	Data Archiving Plans for NIJ Funding Applicants
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)	NOAA Data Sharing Policy for Grants and Cooperative Agreements Procedural Directive
National Science Foundation (NSF)	Data Sharing Policy and Data Management Plan Requirements Guidance and Sample Data Management Plans Note: Each NSF Directorate provides distinct guidance for researchers preparing DMPs; be sure to consult the guidance from the Directorate to which you are applying.
Smithsonian Institution	Plan for Increased Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research