Response to the NIH Request for Information on Recommendations for Improving National Research Service Award Fellowship Review

Thank you for your work to improve the process of fellowship review for National Research Service Award (NRSA) fellowship applications, and for soliciting public input on this matter. In general, your proposed changes are a large improvement for the NRSA fellowship application and review process. The current proposal, however, lacks a consideration of data management and sharing. This works against current NIH-wide and government-wide efforts to improve the quality of data management and sharing throughout federally funded research.

NIH should require fellowship applications to have Data Management and Sharing Plans just like other applications for NIH support. Data management and sharing is something that must be performed by the entire scientific workforce. It is not something that can be left only to senior researchers, which is the impression one gets from exempting fellowship applications from the requirement of Data Management and Sharing Plans. Requiring Data Management and Sharing Plans from researchers at the beginning of their scientific careers will spur them to think deeply from the outset about how to perform excellent data management and sharing. It would motivate a change in culture that NIH and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy have acknowledged is necessary.

Data Management and Sharing Plans should also be scored as part of the Science and Scientific Resources criterion. Not including this gives the impression that it is a secondary factor worth little consideration. An excellent Data Management and Sharing Plan is essential to the quality and impact of the planned science. It will give reviewers another chance to see how carefully applicants and their mentorship team have considered appropriate aspects of their research plan. Giving priority to those applications that will have excellent data management and sharing better leverages limited NIH funds.

Furthermore, skills in data management should be specifically mentioned as an example of scientific skills in the Training Plan and Training Resources criterion.

The changes suggested in this letter will help NRSA fellowship programs work in concert with existing NIH and government-wide initiatives to improve data management and sharing. I hope you will consider implementing them while you are already revising fellowship application and review processes. It is the right time to improve the handling of data management and sharing in NIH fellowship support.

Thank you again for your work on this important aspect of training the next generation of researchers.

Other articles

Global Alliance for Genomics and Health Response to the NIH Request for Information on the Genomic Data Sharing Policy

Published: Mon 28 February 2022
Updated: Mon 28 February 2022
By Michael Hoffman

In Science Policy.

tags: us sciencepolicy nih ga4gh

I led the drafting of a Global Alliance for Genomics and Health response to the NIH “Request for Information on Proposed Updates and Long-Term Considerations for the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy”.

See the full response as a PDF.
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Response to the NIH Request for Information on Developing Consent Language for Future Use of Data and Biospecimens

Published: Tue 06 July 2021
Updated: Tue 06 July 2021
By Michael Hoffman

In Science Policy.

tags: us sciencepolicy nih

Response to the NIH “Request for Information on Developing Consent Language for Future Use of Data and Biospecimens”.

Utility and useability of this resource

Thanks for assembling this useful resource which will prove helpful for a wide range of investigators.

Gaps or additional components that should be included

The introduction …
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Response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Request for Information on public access

Published: Tue 05 May 2020
Updated: Wed 06 May 2020
By Michael Hoffman

In Science Policy.

tags: us sciencepolicy funding ostp data datamanagement datasharing codesharing materialsharing

Response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s “Request for Information: Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code Resulting From Federally Funded Research”.

Dear Dr. Nichols,

Thank you for requesting input on “Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code Resulting From Federally …
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Comments on the draft NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing

Published: Thu 19 December 2019
Updated: Tue 05 May 2020
By Michael Hoffman

In Science Policy.

tags: us sciencepolicy funding nih data datamanagement datasharing

Response to the “Request for Public Comments on a DRAFT NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing and Supplemental DRAFT Guidance”.

Section I: Purpose

There should be a presumption that all research data underlying a publication is shared at time of publication. The current language is weak and has statements …
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Response to the Proposed Update to the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy’s Access Model for Genomic Summary Results

Published: Mon 16 October 2017
Updated: Mon 16 October 2017
By Michael Hoffman

In Science Policy.

tags: us sciencepolicy nih genomics datasharing

I strongly support NIH’s effort to make genomic summary statistics more widely available. This is an unqualified good for lifesaving scientific research.

I strongly oppose the proposal to lock summary statistics behind a click-through agreement. This will slow projects that might use these data, costing money and delaying scientific …
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Utility and useability of this resource

Gaps or additional components that should be included

Section I: Purpose

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