Reasonable, allowable costs may be included in NIH budget requests for:
- Curating data
- Developing supporting documentation
- Formatting data according to accepted community standards, or for transmission to and storage at a selected repository for long-term preservation and access
- De-identifying data
- Preparing metadata to foster discoverability, interpretation, and reuse
- Local data management considerations, such as unique and specialized information infrastructure necessary to provide local management and preservation (for example, before deposit into an established repository).
- Specific and/or specialized tool/infrastructure to assist in local data management and preservation must be used for the project during the project period
- Preserving and sharing data through established repositories, such as data deposit fees.
- If the Data Management & Sharing (DMS) plan proposes deposition to multiple repositories, costs associated with each proposed repository may be included.
Budget requests must NOT include:
- Infrastructure costs that are included in institutional overhead (for instance, Facilities and Administrative costs)
- Costs associated with the routine conduct of research, including costs associated with collecting or gaining access to research data.
- Costs that are double charged or inconsistently charged as both direct and indirect costs
Read the NIH Supplemental Information on Allowable Costs for Data Management and Sharing.
On the proposed budget for data management and sharing, peer reviewers may provide comments on the reasonableness of the budget, but these comments will not impact the score. Peer reviewers will only use the information found in the budget justification to determine whether the requested DMS costs are reasonable and will not be provided with the separate DMS Plan attachment.
Harvard's budget and application quick tip sheet might be helpful as well.
NEW: Instruction Updates to Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Costs
"Effective for applications submitted for due dates on or after October 5, 2023, NIH will no longer require the use of the single DMS cost line item. NIH recognizes that DMS costs may be requested in many cost categories. Therefore, in line with our standard budget instructions, DMS costs must be requested in the appropriate cost category, e.g., personnel, equipment, supplies, and other expenses, following the instructions for the R&R Budget Form or PHS 398 Modular Budget Form, as applicable." Read the complete notice.