Research Data Management & Security
On this page:
Research Data • Research Security • Public Access and Open Access • Communications
The Office of Research Data Management and Security (RDMS) has a twofold mission. First, to help faculty and researchers ensure that all research conducted at NYU Washington Square utilizes appropriate safeguards for data generated or received by our researchers, and second, to provide leadership and strategic direction to the NYU community and its global campuses regarding the requirements and obligations of National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33). Read more about RDMS’ mission.
Research Data
The following resources provide information and guidance on properly categorizing and storing research data. Keep in mind that NYU’s Policies and guidance applies to all data at the University, including student data, administrative data, and other institutional data. If you have questions as to how your data fits into these categories, or how it should be managed, please reach out to Victoria at vmc6@nyu.edu. The University encourages that every research project, regardless of sponsor, have a data management plan.
Research Security
Research security is critical to protecting public investment in research, preventing the misuse of research data and advanced technology generated at universities, and protecting the safety and security of NYU’s employees and students while traveling abroad. Because NYU receives more than $50 million in annual federal research funding, the U.S. government requires that we implement a Research Security Program. The Senior Director of Research Data Management and Security, reporting to the Associate Vice Provost for Research, serves as NYU’s point of contact during this implementation phase. This website provides resources to NYU’s research community and formalizes the ongoing development of NYU’s Research Security program as required by National Security Presidential Memorandum 33 (NSPM-33).
Several federal agencies have public access initiatives or requirements. Check the links below for agency specific information:
- https://sharing.nih.gov/
- https://sharing.nih.gov/faqs#/data-management-and-sharing-policy.htm?anchor=56972
- https://new.nsf.gov/public-access
NYU Commitment to Open Access to and Sharing of Research Data and Publications
New York University is committed to disseminating the results of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In addition to the public benefit of such dissemination, this commitment serves faculty interests by promoting collaboration across the globe, greater reach and impact for articles, simplifying authors’ retention of distribution rights, and aiding preservation, and acknowledges of the ever-increasing number of agencies and foundations which require the outputs of the research they sponsor be shared openly. Therefore, where required, and if not required, to the extent practicable, NYU encourages its research community to:
Make available, as of the date of publication and without any embargo period, an electronic copy of any final, peer-reviewed manuscript upon acceptance for publication at no charge in an appropriate format (such as PDF). The manuscript shall be made available to the public in one of NYU’s open-access repositories (e.g., Faculty Digital Archive, Ultraviolet., etc.) or another open repository of choice or as required by the project sponsor, and should include all graphics and supplemental material associated with the manuscript.
Additionally it is the expectation of NYU, and in some cases the requirement of external sponsors, that the underlying data supporting the manuscript shall be immediately accessible and open upon article publication. NYU encourages its research community to adhere to the FAIR principles to improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reuse of digital assets. Data shall be made available to the public in one of NYU's open-access repositories (e.g. Faculty Digital Archive, Ultraviolet, etc.) or another data repository of choice or as required by the project sponsor.
Finally, acknowledging that lack of publication does not necessarily mean that research findings are null or negative; NYU encourages its research community to similarly share research data not used to support a publication.
In all cases and in accordance with NYU’s commitment to the integrity and reproducibility of its research outputs, research data shared by the NYU community should be of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research findings.
The National Institutes of Health have adopted the following definition of research data as “the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate and replicate research findings, regardless of whether the data are used to support scholarly publications.” Where in doubt, NYU encourages its research community to use a similar standard for determining what data should be shared.