Details of NSF DMP Requirements

All applicants for National Science Foundation funding must include a Data Management Plan (DMP) that describes how a proposal will implement sharing and dissemination of research data and results.

The NSF Data Sharing Policy reads:

Investigators are expected to share with other researchers, at no more than incremental cost and within a reasonable time, the primary data, samples, physical collections and other supporting materials created or gathered in the course of work under NSF grants. Grantees are expected to encourage and facilitate such sharing.

The DMP’s scope is defined by the community. Within the communities that work with language, it is clear that the scope includes raw data and annotation or coding.

The DMP generally includes a description of the:

• data
• hosting archive
• details of access and sharing, including re-use, distribution and production of derivatives
• metadata used
• pertinent intellectual property rights
• ethics and privacy issues, if any
• data, tools and documentation formats
• plans for archiving and preservation

Costs necessary for implementing the DMP should be part of the proposal budget and justified in the budget justification.