CUAHSI-HIS and the New NSF Data Management Plan Requirement
Introduction
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has instituted a new data management plan (DMP) requirement for all proposals submitted on or after January 18, 2011 (see nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp for full details). A data management plan of up to two pages must now be included with your NSF proposal that details the storage, archiving and dissemination plans for data resulting from NSF-funded projects.
CUAHSI has expertise in data storage and management, and can provide certain services to your project at no cost. We have compiled the following guidance based on NSF's Grant Proposal Guide that may assist you in completing your data management plan. Because this is a new requirement, we do not know what will be considered acceptable by reviewers and cannot guarantee that these recommendations are adequate, even though we believe they are appropriate. Based upon our discussions with Earth Sciences division at NSF, there will be considerable flexibility in what are considered acceptable data management plans until more experience is gained. It is most important at this stage to demonstrate that you have considered data management and have a strategy.
The CUAHSI-Hydrologic Information System (CUAHSI–HIS) group has several services available to the community that can address many aspects of data management, and has also developed software and guidance for using commercial and standards based software that can help you manage your own data to fulfill this requirement.
We encourage investigators to use and quote this information as needed, and to contact and collaborate with CUAHSI–HIS on addressing their data management plan needs. Inquiries should be directed to exidr@cuahsi.org.
Important Aspects of a Data Management Plan
To meet NSF's data management policy guidelines, your data management plan should include the following information:
- Data Inventory
- Data and Metadata Standards
- Data Use, Privacy and Sharing Policies
- Data Management Life Cycle including storage, curation, archiving and publication
For each section, we have provided an overview of what kind of information should be included and some simple example language and content. In addition, we have highlighted areas where CUAHSI-HIS may assist you and provided a detailed section on:
In addition to this information, we encourage investigators to consult their universities for data curation and management options, and with NSF program officers and other appropriate resources for their specific data needs.