• The DMP is a change in implementation of NSF’s existing data sharing policy, which requires awardees to share their data within a reasonable length of time, as long as the cost is modest
• The DMP requirement is the first step in what will be a more comprehensive approach to data
• The changes are designed to address trends and needs in the modern era of data-driven science
• NSF wants to avoid a one-size-fits-all apporach to data sharing
• The DMP is a supplement to the proposal document, and should describe how the proposal will conform to NSF Policy on the dissemination and sharing of research results
• The DMP will be reviewed as an intergral part of the proposal, falling under Intellectual Merit or Broader Impacts or both, as appropriate for the community of relevance
• NSF FastLane will automatically check for compliance with the DMP requirement, in the same way it currently handles mentoring plans
• (and, perhaps most interestingly, an apparent opt out provision for the DMP): A valid DMP may include only the statement that no detailed plan is needed, as long as the statement is accompanied by a clear justification

On a related note, Texas A&M’s VPR Office is establishing, through the Council of Principal Investigators, an NSF Data Management Plan Committee to “review and address NSF requirements for data management plans; and implement and establish services and guidelines to the faculty when developing plans”.

Additionally, representatives from the Texas Digital Library will also be attending a Fall meeting of VPs for Research at all TDL schools to discuss data management requirements of federal grants.

For institutions not using the proprietary upload tool, fees will still apply. Also, the option of publishing the ETD via Open Access will still cost $95. per document, regardless of submission method.

Once the shock wears off over this announcement, an analysis on what this development means for scholarly publishing, libraries and the ETD community will be forthcoming. I promise! For now, it’s enough to celebrate this windfall reduction in cost for graduate students.

Beginning in January 2011 (actual implementation date to be announced), a Data Management Plan (DMP) will be required for all new NSF proposals. FastLane will be updated to enable its upload as a separate Supplementary Document. Proposals that do not include the requisite DMP will be stopped from submission. Specific guidance will be included in an upcoming revision to the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide. Please note, the Engineering Directorate (ENG) will have additional guidance for proposals submitted to ENG programs. Detailed instructions, including responses to Frequently Asked Questions will be provided at the time of implementation.

An accompanying document, Data Management for NSF Engineering Directorate Proposals and Awards, provides very helpful details about their expectations for the DMP. According to these guidelines, we can expect the following components to be required:

Expected data

- Describe the types of data, samples, physical collections, software, curriculum materials, and other materials to be proced in the course of the project.

- Describe the expected types of data to be retained

Period of data retention

- Minimum retention of research data is 3 years after the conclusion of the award or three years after public release, whichever is later.

- Additional guidelines on data retention provisions with respect to publication, patents, student research, etc. are provided in the document.

Data formats and dissemination

- Describe specific data formas, media, and dissemination approaches used to share the data and metadata with others

- Describe policies for public access, including provisions for protecting privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, other rights or managing other restrictions.

- Describe how data are to be shared and managed with partners, if applicable, or other major stakeholders or user communities.

- Clearly indicate publication delay policies, if applicable

Data storage and preservation of access

- Describe physical and cyber resources and facilities used for preservation and storage of research data.

For Principal Investigators in the Texas A&M community, please feel free to contact the Libraries’ Digital Services & Scholarly Communications staff at digital@library.tamu.edu for assistance in preparing your DMP. We have a range of services and facilities you may wish to take advantage of, including metadata consultation, hosting of digital resources via the Texas A&M Digital repository, and a robust preservation facilitiy managed by the Texas Digital Library and hosted at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC).

The number following each URL is the number of times the item was viewed last month.
The topics represented demonstrate the diversity and relevance of research supported by Texas A&M.

1. Introduction to vectors and tensors, Vol 1: linear and multilinear algebra  (1969.1/2502) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/2502> 207
2. Introduction to vectors and tensors, Vol 2: vector and tensor analysis  (1969.1/3609) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/3609> 141
3. Cotton Worms – I.D. Guide  (1969.1/87419) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/87419> 125
4. Introduction to continuum mechanics for engineers  (1969.1/2501) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/2501> 112
5. Process and reliability assessment of plasma-based copper etch process  (1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2902) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2902> 85
6. The Mica shipwreck: deepwater nautical archaeology in the Gulf of Mexico  (1969.1/311) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/311> 68
7. Evaporative Roof Cooling – A Simple Solution to Cut Cooling Costs  (1969.1/6787) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/6787> 51
8. Application of Multizone HVAC Control Using Wireless Sensor Networks and Actuating Vent Registers… <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/6214> 50
9. Ancient ships of Japan  (1969.1/4415) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/4415> 48
10. Managed pressure drilling techniques and tools  (1969.1/3884) <http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/3884> 46

The Texas A&M Digital Repository has limited usage statistics available; if you wish to see them, go to http://repository.tamu.edu/statistics. Monthly statistics are available from the left navigation. The number following each URL is the number of times the item was viewed last month.

Texas A&M Adds 2300+ ETDs to DSpace Repository

Texas A&M Libraries catalogs 2300+ ETDs

And don’t forget to the visit the repository! http://repository.tamu.edu

The project sought to raise money, conduct research — and to share the research data — with the public immediately. No scientist or drug company owns the data, although private companies will have opportunities to profit from their investments in the project as new drugs or imaging tests are developed as a result of the research findings. By sharing the data, scientists in one lab have access to the findings of other scientists. The effort involved to find the biomarkers is enormous, so collaboration encouraged helped speed discovery. Version:1.0 Companies as well as academic researchers are using the data. There have been more than 3,200 downloads of the entire massive data set and almost a million downloads of the data sets containing images from brain scans.

This might signal a change in how research is funded and conducted, at least in biomedical research, although most scientists and companies are likely to remain cautious. As Dr. John Q. Trojanowski, a scientist from the University of Pennsylvania said, “It’s not science the way most of us have practiced it in our careers.”

Researchers can browse the contents of each journal to find articles and authors in each volume and issue, and can search across the entire archive by journal or group of journals at: http://www.ams.org/joursearch/. View the abstract, references (with links to MathSciNet), bibliographic information, Mathematics Subject Classifications for each article, or view a PDF of the full article.

Each journal is unique in its offering of articles, book reviews, and reports. AMS journals have consistently been managed by editors highly prominent in their fields.

The AMS makes the digitized archive of these important research journals freely available to all mathematicians through the generosity of an anonymous donor.

As part of this change in administrative process, submission to the fee-based repository operated by ProQuest/UMI will not longer be required and will not be included in the University’s routine ETD submission workflow. Individual colleges or schools may continue to require that students submit their dissertation to ProQuest/UMI on their own. Additionally, students are welcome to contribute their thesis or dissertation to additional repositories including Open Thesis, Internet Archive’s Text Archive, or subject specific repositories. Further information about the University’s new ETD submission process are available from the Library website.

In making the change to fully Open Access ETD submission and publishing, UCF joins a number of other North American institutions who no longer require graduate students to send their work to a proprietary publisher. Others in this category include Stanford University, University of Texas at Austin, Virginia Tech, University of Tennessee (Knoxville), Louisiana State, Laval University, and the University of British Columbia.

In the wake of this announcement (and the absence of any follow-up guidelines from NSF), university research administrators around the country are taking action. At a minimum, they are adding the NSF announcement (Press release 10-077) to their websites, newsletters or blogs. Most blurbs conclude with a pledge to keep the research communities informed of instructions from NSF as soon as they are made available.

In a few noteworthy cases, research offices are more proactively preparing for the new NSF requirement.

Woods Hole’s Director of Research is “planning activities through the summer of 2010 to look at shifting data management requirements from funders ” and assess “the larger data needs of WHOI scientists.” They are organizing meetings with PI’s to discussing the changing NSF policy and identify PI needs. Ultimately they aim to create a set of template data management plans that PI’s can adapt and include in their future NSF proposals. The summer plan is described on their website.

The Office of Research Integrity at University of Alaska, Fairbanks has produced a helpful Data Management page on their website that details not only principles and guidelines for data management but also University policy regarding the oversight of data collection, the transfer of data to other institutions and University requirements for the retention of data. These “local” considerations must be woven into any data management plan prepared for an outside funding agency, such as NSF.

And in an interesting example from the University of Utah, the Associate VP for Research has chosen to link the announcement about the new NSF requirement to a pitch for the university’s Institutional Repository, ‘Uspace’. Her letter to Faculty and Deans aims to raise awareness of the IR as

“a possible repository for your data at the university. Uspace (Uspace.utah.edu) is an online repository for data/software/theses/dissertations/publications/reports/etc. It is made possible by the Institutional Repository Initiative, which is a collaborative project between the libraries at the University of Utah and the University community. Their goal is to collect and archive the intellectual capital of the institution and make these scholarly materials freely available on the Internet.”/strong>

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The letter concludes with the contact information at the Library which will provide assistance and further information.

Each of these examples demonstrates ways in which Universities can take steps now to prepare for the new NSF requirement. We’d love to hear from other Universities about your plans to prepare for October!