NSF Data Management and Sharing Plan Policy
The Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 24-1 describes NSF-wide policies, but Supplement 2 (Jan. 22, 2026) takes precedence over the PAPPG.
Changes relevant to data sharing and the data management plan are outlined in the Supplement:
- Public Access to Research Products (Chapter XI.D.2.c)
- Dissemination and Sharing of Research Results (Chapter XI.D.4)
- Data Management and Sharing Plan (Chapter II.D.2.(i).(ii))
General guidelines:
- Data should be shared according to existing standards whenever possible
- Primary data, samples, physical collections, software, inventions, curriculum material, and other supporting materials should be shared as covered by the DMSP
- Datasets should be deposited in repositories that assign a Persistent Identifier (PID), such as a DOI.
- if no PID has been assigned, an NSF-PAR ID will be accepted
- Shared datasets must acknowledge NSF support and award number(s) in their metadata
- Shared datasets should be reported in annual and final project reports in the Products section
- The dataset’s DOI must be reported via NSF-PAR.
- Exceptions (delays and limiting access) must be justified in the DMSP
Directorates and Divisions within NSF may have additional requirements and guidance.
The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) that you are applying to may also include information about data management and sharing.
Using Research.gov to Create the Plan
NSF requires researchers to use Research.gov to create the Data Management and Sharing Plan.
You can save versions of your plan in your account in Research.gov. A copy of your plan can be exported if you would like us to review it.
- There is also a demo site if you would like to see what the form looks like.
Instructions with screen shots are provided on the Research.gov page.
Notes about the form
1. After you select the FOA, the form will ask for Data or Research Product Category General Information
For certain NSF funding opportunities, the form might provide you with a list of pre-defined Categories that the Directorate/Division/Office has provided. But in other cases, you will have to create your own Category via “Add new.”
For pre-defined Categories, there may also be pre-defined options displayed in “Data Standards and Metadata” and “Public Archiving.”
At this time, you can have up to 4 Categories. For larger projects, you may need to create/use broader Categories in order to address all of the types of data that your project may generate or collect.
2. For each Category you select or define, the form has seven (7) additional sections.
Most of these sections allow only one entry, so you may want to provide additional information via the “Details” text box.
For instance, if you created a Category called Biological Data that consists of several types of data (e.g., sequence data, microscopy images, and cell growth data), the only way to describe the data and metadata standards for each of those types of data is via the Details text box.
Here are the sections for each Category:
Some selection boxes might have specific options if the form has incorporated those details from a Directorate/Division/Office for a particular FOA.
- Access Policies and Limitations – six are provided and you can add a new one too
- Data Standards and Metadata – in general you can only select one, so use Additional Details to provide more information
- Data or Research Product Provenance – only one entry
- Public Archiving – only one entry, so if you are using several repositories, describe them via Additional Details.
- Timeline for Public Accessibility – can choose only one timeline, so you can state “At time of publication or by end of the award, whichever is sooner.” via Add New, and/or via Additional Details
- Data Availability – can only choose one option, so if you use several repositories with different retention policies, use Add New or Additional Details to explain this.
- Accountability
Contact us if you would like assistance: lib-data@uiowa.edu