NIH issues a seismic mandate: share data publicly

"In January 2023, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) will begin requiring most of the 300,000 researchers and 2,500 institutions it funds annually to include a data-management plan in their grant applications — and to eventually make their data publicly available.

Researchers who spoke to Nature largely applaud the open-science principles underlying the policy — and the global example it sets. But some have concerns about the logistical challenges that researchers and their institutions will face in complying with it. Namely, they worry that the policy might exacerbate existing inequities in the science-funding landscape and could be a burden for early-career scientists, who do the lion’s share of data collection and are already stretched thin....

Such a seismic shift in practice has left some researchers worried about the amount of work that the mandate will require when it becomes effective....

Others worry that data-management activities will further sap funds from under-resourced labs. Although the policy outlines certain fees that researchers can add to their proposed budgets to offset the costs of compliance with the mandate, it doesn’t specify what criteria the NIH will use to grant these requests....

Despite its potential pitfalls, Ross thinks that the policy will have a ripple effect that will persuade smaller funding agencies and industry to adopt similar changes. “This policy establishes what people expect from clinical research,” he says. “It’s essentially saying the culture of research needs to change.” "