A generalist institutional data repository offering both open and restricted access to support NIH data sharing...

Area of Science:

• Data Science
• Bibliometrics
• Scholarly Communication

Background:

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) implemented a new Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy in 2023.
• Academic institutions need robust systems to manage and share research data effectively.
• Washington University School of Medicine aimed to create a compliant and user-friendly data repository.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish an institutional data repository, Digital Commons Data@Becker, at Washington University School of Medicine.
• To support compliance with the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy.
• To facilitate both open and restricted access to research data, promoting FAIR data principles.

Main Methods:

• Launched Digital Commons Data@Becker, a generalist institutional data repository.
• Implemented a fully mediated curation workflow for researchers.
• Integrated persistent identifiers (ORCID, ROR, DOIs) and the DataCite metadata schema.
• Established procedures for Human Research Protection Office (HRPO) review and Data Transfer and Use Agreements (DTUAs) for restricted data.

Main Results:

• Published 30 diverse datasets (biomedical imaging, sequencing, surveys) since its 2023 launch.
• Achieved 4,409 views and 4,120 file downloads across all datasets.
• Processed 13 access requests for restricted datasets, granting three via DTUAs.

Conclusions:

• Digital Commons Data@Becker successfully balances data accessibility and security.
• The repository supports NIH compliance and advances FAIR data sharing and stewardship.
• Researchers value the free institutional curation, flexible access, and rapid DOI assignment.