The 2026 NIH Data Management Plan, and the New Structured Format

NIH replaced the narrative data management and sharing plan with a structured form for applications submitted on or after 25 May 2026, and this guide walks through all seven elements it now asks for, including the three-year minimum retention period, the 300-word cap on justifying any limit to sharing, and the repository table. It supplies a blank template you can download and fill in rather than composing prose from scratch. If you last wrote one of these before this summer, the thing you wrote is the wrong shape, and half an hour here fixes that.

Task

Ethics & compliance

Time

15 min

Level

beginner

Cost

Free — Nothing to pay. A free account at most.

Tools

None in particular

Published

2026