Accessing Scientific Data

Sharing data enables reuse, increases transparency, and facilitates reproducibility of research results. To bolster data sharing, NIH supports a number of data repositories.

In general, NIH does not endorse or require sharing or accessing data through any particular repository, although some initiatives and funding opportunities will have individual sharing requirements.  

NIH-supported Scientific Data Repositories*

• Browse the variety of repositories supported and select the link provided in the “Access to Data” column for instructions on accessing data from that repository. 
• Use the "Columns" button to search by additional parameters (e.g. Data Submission Policy).

Generalist Repositories

While NIH encourages the use of domain-specific repositories where possible, such repositories are not available for all datasets. When investigators cannot locate a repository for their discipline or the type of data they generate, a generalist repository can be a useful place to share data. Generalist repositories accept data regardless of data type, format, content, or disciplinary focus. NIH does not recommend a specific generalist repository and the list below, which is not exhaustive, is provided as a guide for locating generalist repositories.

• Dataverse
• Dryad
• Figshare
• IEEE Dataport
• Mendeley Data
• Open Science Framework
• Synapse
• Vivli
• Zenodo