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A Data Access Conundrum - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

A Data Access Conundrum - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences Officials at the National Institutes of Health are anticipating that problems will arise with implementation of the Shelby amendment. Passed by Congress last year, the amendment mandates that scientists make data from federally funded projects publicly available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). "FOIA is too crude an instrument for this; it was never designed for scientific data sharing," commented Wendy Baldwin, NIH deputy director for extramural research, at a session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington, D.C., last month. The first hurdle will be a mechanism for meeting a public request. FOIA offices that are accustomed to dealing with documents held by federal agencies will now have to handle the nuances of getting scientific data from grantees to a private citizen or organization. The amendment applies only to universities, hospitals, and nonprofit research institutions, not private companies--even if they have federal grants. Institutions with federally supported research projects must provide public access to data cited in a federal regulation or other action that holds the force of law. When a researcher has commingled sources of support for a project, Baldwin explains, "One drop of federal money makes this [amendment] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Scientist The Scientist

A Data Access Conundrum - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

The Scientist , Volume 14 (6): 13 – Mar 20, 2000

A Data Access Conundrum - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences

The Scientist , Volume 14 (6): 13 – Mar 20, 2000

Abstract

Officials at the National Institutes of Health are anticipating that problems will arise with implementation of the Shelby amendment. Passed by Congress last year, the amendment mandates that scientists make data from federally funded projects publicly available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). "FOIA is too crude an instrument for this; it was never designed for scientific data sharing," commented Wendy Baldwin, NIH deputy director for extramural research, at a session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington, D.C., last month. The first hurdle will be a mechanism for meeting a public request. FOIA offices that are accustomed to dealing with documents held by federal agencies will now have to handle the nuances of getting scientific data from grantees to a private citizen or organization. The amendment applies only to universities, hospitals, and nonprofit research institutions, not private companies--even if they have federal grants. Institutions with federally supported research projects must provide public access to data cited in a federal regulation or other action that holds the force of law. When a researcher has commingled sources of support for a project, Baldwin explains, "One drop of federal money makes this [amendment]

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Publisher
The Scientist
Copyright
© 1986-2010 The Scientist
ISSN
1759-796X
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Officials at the National Institutes of Health are anticipating that problems will arise with implementation of the Shelby amendment. Passed by Congress last year, the amendment mandates that scientists make data from federally funded projects publicly available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). "FOIA is too crude an instrument for this; it was never designed for scientific data sharing," commented Wendy Baldwin, NIH deputy director for extramural research, at a session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington, D.C., last month. The first hurdle will be a mechanism for meeting a public request. FOIA offices that are accustomed to dealing with documents held by federal agencies will now have to handle the nuances of getting scientific data from grantees to a private citizen or organization. The amendment applies only to universities, hospitals, and nonprofit research institutions, not private companies--even if they have federal grants. Institutions with federally supported research projects must provide public access to data cited in a federal regulation or other action that holds the force of law. When a researcher has commingled sources of support for a project, Baldwin explains, "One drop of federal money makes this [amendment]

Journal

The ScientistThe Scientist

Published: Mar 20, 2000

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