Integrity Guidelines Up for Public Review - post in The Scientist

From the online newsletter, The Scientist:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) released a draft summarizing its principles for scientific integrity and outlining new principles which it plans to implement at the end of the year, and has invited the public to chime in. 

The draft is available in the Federal Register online:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-04/html/2011-19701.htm

It asserts the intention of the NSF to support open and transparent processes in awarding of grants, media policy, and making the results of research available to the public.

From the draft:

SUMMARY: On March 9, 2009, President Obama issued a Memorandum for the Heads of 
Executive Departments and Agencies on Scientific Integrity. Shortly thereafter the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) led an interagency task group to develop an 
implementation strategy, and NSF was represented on the task group. On December 
17, 2010, the OSTP Director issued a Memorandum with implementation guidance (for copies 
of both memoranda, see: 
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/library/scientificintegrity).
      NSF is fully committed to its efforts to ensure that our processes will advance the goals 
articulated in the Memoranda. This report summarizes NSF practices both current and planned 
to maintain and enhance scientific integrity across our S&E community. The report is 
organized according to the major headings and topics of the December 2010 OSTP Memorandum.

DATES: Comments on the report are welcome before September 6, 2011. 
Comments will be useful in shaping the agency's implementation. Please send comments to 
siip_comments@nsf.gov. All comments received before the close of the comment period will be 
available for public inspection, including any personally identifiable or confidential business 
information that is included. Because they will be made public, comments should not include 
any sensitive information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
  siip_comments@nsf.gov.

Major headings of the draft report:

I. Foundations of Scientific Integrity In Government
II. Public Communications
III. Use of Federal Advisory Committees (FAC)
IV. Professional Development of Government Scientists and Engineers
V. Implementation

NSF Data Management Plans - language is out!

The National Science Foundation had said back in May of this year that Data Management Plans will be required in future grant applications, and that they would elaborate on this in October.

Academic librarians have been wondering if developing these plans might cause researchers to consult us about developing quality metadata for their data.  Ideally, thought should be given in advance of data collection to how research might be used in the future, by the researchers themselves, and by others, maybe even in other fields; tagging the data at its inception is most efficient. Looks like baby steps at the beginning, though.

Link to the NSF page where the language on Data Management Plans is published:
   http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf11001/gpg_2.jsp#IIC2j

Specific language for various units within NSF (Directorate, Office, Division, Program, etc.) is here:
   http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp.

On that page is a link to an FAQ about Data Management Plans:
   http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmpfaqs.jsp 
For an example, here is Frequently Asked Question #3:

3. Am I required to deposit my data in a public database?
What constitutes reasonable data management and access will be determined by the community of interest through the process of peer review and program management. In many cases, these standards already exist, but are likely to evolve as new technologies and resources become available.

We're all in a brave new world.  If you are a UMass Amherst person and are interested in speaking with a librarian about how the Library might be able to work with you on a Data Management Plan, please get in touch!