NIH Statement on Sharing Research

The NIH announced its final Statement on Sharing Research Data (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-032.html). Reaffirming its support for the concept of the sharing of all data supporting research results to advance the scientific enterprise, NIH is requiring any application requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs in any single year of the project period to include a plan for data sharing or rationale for why data sharing is not possible. This requirement will begin with applications submitted on or after October 1, 2003.

NIH requires any investigator considering an application over $500,000 in direct costs in a single year to receive an agreement to accept the assignment of the application from the affected Institute or Center six weeks in advance of the submission date. Applicants are encouraged to discuss their data-sharing plan with the program contact during these assignment discussions. Solicitations will include instructions for the plans and NIH cautions that some Program Announcements that anticipate awards totaling less than $500,000 direct costs in any single year may require a plan. Further, the notice states that reviewers will not factor the proposed data plan into the determination of scientific merit or priority score. The program staff will assess the plans.

To assist applicants in preparing the plans, NIH has posted a number of resource documents on its web site at:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/data_sharing/index.htm

The final statement is available on this site as well. In response to concerns over the release of data before publication, NIH revised its definition of "timely release and sharing" to be no later than the acceptance for publication of the main findings from the final data set.


Salary Cap Change

As previously announced here, the Executive Level I salary cap has been increased to $171,900 effective January 1, 2003. A recent NIH Guide announcement has provided updated information regarding the salary limitation for NIH grants.

For the purposes of the salary limitation, the terms "direct salary," "salary," and "institutional base salary" have the same meaning and are exclusive of fringe benefits and facilities and administrative (F&A) expenses, also referred to as indirect costs. An individual's institutional base salary is the annual compensation that the applicant organization pays for an individual's appointment, whether that individual's time is spent on research, teaching, patient care, or other activities. Base salary excludes any income that an individual may be permitted to earn outside of the duties to the applicant organization.

NIH grant/contract awards for applications/proposals that request direct salaries of individuals in excess of the applicable rate per year will be adjusted in accordance with the legislative salarylimitation and will include a notification stating that fact. Complete details, including a FAQ and examples of how the salary cap will affect budgets, may be found here: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-03-034.html

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