NIH Figshare Instance Pilot to Conclude July 15

The National Institutes of Health’s Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) and Figshare, a generalist data repository, will conclude the NIH Figshare Instance, a one-year pilot project, on July 15, 2020. Data in the NIH Figshare Instance will continue to remain publicly accessible and editable after July 15. New items can also be uploaded to Figshare with a figshare.com account.

The ODSS and Figshare announced the pilot project in July 2019 to test specific characteristics of a generalist data repository in the NIH data ecosystem. When a domain-specific data repository is not available to researchers, NIH encourages researchers to use generalist and institutional repositories that align with the OSTP desirable characteristics and that make their data more findable and accessible.

The biomedical data repository landscape is rapidly changing, and the pilot demonstrated the growing usefulness for generalist repositories to make data more discoverable. Over the course of the project, four case studies were developed:

• Storing and sharing x-ray scattering data on the NIH Figshare instance
• Making the NIH Figshare instance part of the research lifecycle: a case study of sharing single cell databases in the Carpenter Lab at The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University
• Using the NIH Figshare instance to make fMRI and eye movement data associated with a publication openly available
• Using the NIH Figshare instance to share a cholesterol calculator for reuse and further collaboration and development

Final outcomes of the project will be available on the ODSS website in late July.

To see all NIH-supported data repositories, visit the data sharing resources page hosted by the National Library of Medicine. Learn more about biomedical data repositories and the role that generalist repositories play in the broader repository landscape.

For questions related to NIH Figshare or general Figshare accounts, please contact info@figshare.com.

For questions related to the pilot project, please contact datascience@nih.gov.