Data Sharing Resources and Policies

Research data sharing may be required by federal funders or journal publishers and also supports transparency, rigor and broader research impact. Learn about U-M and federal resources for data management and sharing plans, data repositories, archiving support, and related compliance guidance.

On this page

Sharing research data may be a requirement to comply with federal funding agency or journal publisher guidelines. The federal government expects the results of publicly funded research, including datasets, to be publicly available. Doing so can also increase the impact and benefit of research within the greater research community. This page provides more information about University of Michigan and federal data sharing resources and policies. 

U-M resources

Standard Practice Guide Policies (SPG)

  • Institutional Data Stewardship Policy (SPG 601.12)
  • Security of Personally Owned Devices that Maintain Sensitive University Data (SPG 601.33)
  • Research Data Steward Policy (SPG 303.06)

Data & Biospecimen Sharing Committee (Michigan Medical School)

All Michigan Medicine patient and research participant data and biospecimens are resources owned by the Regents of the University of Michigan and are governed by university policies and procedures. This policy applies to Michigan Medicine human data and biospecimens transferred to for-profit or commercial entities, non-academic foundations and professional societies. The policy does not apply to transfers to government agencies and other academic medical centers, universities and research institutes, nor does it govern sharing of data for purposes of patient care or clinical trial site activity. 

Research Data Stewardship Initiative (RDSI)

The U-M RDSI is an initiative under the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation to support U-M researchers in managing and sharing their research data to improve the transparency, rigor and impact of academic research. The RDSI online portal aggregates university-wide resources and guidance to help researchers identify options for archiving and sharing data based on their disciplines and the types of data they generate, while also providing tools to navigate new federal requirements when preparing grant proposals.

Data Management and Sharing Plan Oversight

In most cases, the DMS plan oversight at U-M will be provided by the principal investigator (PI) and other study personnel. These resources may help in developing a DMS plan.

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

ICPSR is a world-renowned data archiving program with over 55 years of experience. They house over 10,000 studies comprising 5 million variables. Depositing data at ICPSR is free, in addition, they provide an experienced data archivist, who will assist all depositors in preparing their data as well as their data documentation. 

U-M Library Data Services and Deep Blue Data

Data Services is a network of services throughout the U-M Library to assist during all phases of the research data lifecycle.

  • Deep Blue Data is a repository offered by the U-M Library that provides access and preservation services for digital research data that were developed or used in the support of research activities at U-M.

Also see: https://its.umich.edu/computing/backup-storage/finder

Federal policies