Weill Cornell Medicine Samuel J. Wood Library

Tech Tuesday: DMPTool

Learn how to make complying with the new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy a snap with DMPTool, a web-based platform for generating data management and sharing plans. We will go over how to access the platform, complete data management templates, and navigate both WCM and NIH-specific guidance.

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Tech Tuesday: WCM Institutional Data Repository for Research

The WCM Institutional Data Repository for Research (WIDRR) is a tool that was recently developed to help WCM researchers archive their datasets to be compliant with the new Cornell University Data Retention Policy. This new policy states that a data retention request should be formulated by researchers when they encounter one of three specific events. Researchers can archive their dataset either in an approved public repository or in WIDRR. In any case, researchers will need to report the location of their datasets in WIDRR.

What do I need to do for compliance and institutional oversight?

NIH Compliance and Monitoring:

  • You must document your compliance with your DMSP in your annual Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR).  Non-compliance may result in NIH enforcement action such as:
    • Addition of special terms or conditions to the award
    • Termination of the award
    • Non-compliance may also affect future funding decisions
  • If you make changes to your current DMSP, your new plan must be approved by NIH, but the process varies depending on whether the change is made pre-award or post award.

Institutional Oversight:

  • PIs will ultimately be responsible for ensuring the DMSP is executed
  • The IRB will be responsible for ensuring that the sharing of data pertaining to human subjects is consistent between the DMSP and informed consent
  • PIs will be responsible for ensuring Data Use Agreements are in place before sharing sensitive data
  • Before sharing any data from the data core, data curators will ensure that the data have been de-identified, and will work with the PI and IRB to ensure that proper consents and permissions have been obtained to share the data

How do I share my data?

  • Address the NIH’s goal of making data as accessible as possible. The NIH expect all sharable data to be made available, whether associated with a publication or not. 
  • All data used or generated as part of a grant must be managed, but not all data should be shared. You should not share data if doing so would violate privacy protections or applicable laws. If your data are not shareable, you must justify it when writing your DMSP.
  • You may share human subjects-related data as long as your plan addresses how data sharing will be communicated in the consent process, and patients have given informed consent. See NIH sample consent language.


Before submitting your data to a repository, you will need to: 

1. Bundle data together in logical groups for citation and reuse with assigned persistent identifiers (e.g., dataset DOIs)

2. De-identify your data, if appropriate

3. Convert your data to an open, machine-readable file format, such as .csv, when possible

4. Use data and metadata standards if appropriate to your field.  Fairsharing.org is a database of such standards.

5. Document the dataset in a separate readme.txt file, and/or create metadata required by your chosen repository or discipline. Refer to the Data Documentation and Metadata Page for more.

When do I share my data?

The rule of thumb is: as soon as possible.

Consider relevant expectations such as data repository policies, record retention requirements, or journal policies.

NIH states that you must share your data when you publish your work or before your performance period ends, whichever comes first.