An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Data Management Planning Services

Data are valuable and often unique assets that should be properly managed to be FAIR - findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable into the future. Scientists, data managers, library staff, and data users can take actions across the research life cycle which contribute to effective and sustainable data management.

The National Agricultural Library provides guidance on data management as outlined in P&P 630: Data Management & Public Access Requirements for ARS. These guidelines incorporate US Federal public access and open data directives and comply with a broad range of current funding agency requirements for Data Management Plans (DMPs).

The following pages provide information for researchers as they embark on creating their data management plans:

The current data management policy builds on the 2014 Implementation Plan to Increase Public Access to Results of USDA-funded Scientific Research and Data Management Plan for NIFA-Funded Research, Education, and Extension Projects, which in 2019 requested DMPs for all competitive grant programs.