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NIH 2023 Data Management and Sharing Policy: Choosing a Repository

Initial Considerations

Repositories can be: 

  • Discipline-specific or Generalist or Institutional
  • Open or Controlled Access (or a combination)

Questions to consider:

  • Does my program require me to use a particular repository?
  • How big is my data?
  • Am I working with sensitive data?
  • Does the repository meet NIH Desirable Characteristics standards?

NIH Guidance on Choosing a Repository

NIH strongly encourages the use of established repositories, to the extent possible, for preserving and sharing data. 

For certain projects or data types, NIH or NIH ICOs may require that specific repositories be used to preserve and share data. 

Discipline-specific repositories

If no repository is specified, NIH prioritizes the use of data-type and discipline-specific repositories to support effective data discovery and reuse. To help researchers identify an appropriate discipline-specific repository for their data, NIH offers a searchable listing of NIH-Supported Domain-Specific Repositories

Other repository options

If no appropriate discipline-specific repository is available, consider other repository options: 

  • Institutional repositories
  • PubMed Central (PMC) - Articles submitted to PMC can include small datasets (up to 2 GB) as accompanying supplementary material.
  • Generalist data repositories - NIH-Supported Generalist Repositories include:
    • Dataverse
    • Dryad
    • Figshare
    • Mendeley Data
    • OSF
    • Vivli
    • Zenodo

For more about generalist repositories, visit the NIH Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) webpage, and check out the GREI Collaborative Webinar Series on Data Sharing in Generalist Repositoires for presentations and panel discussions about available repository resources and best practices for sharing NIH-funded research.

NIH guides

For detailed guidance on choosing a data repository, see the following NIH resources:

UMB-Supported Repositories

The following UMB-supported data repositories may also be appropriate options:

  • ICPSR or QDR are suitable for projects that generate qualitative or social science data. They offer expert data curation and controlled data access. 
  • OSF is a suitable option for small, non-sensitive datasets. OSF allows for an easy transition from project management to data sharing. It also allows you to link your project with other UMB research projects.