Sharing Data on the Sage Data Platform

Sage Bionetworks (Sage) is a non-profit research organization that develops and applies innovative technologies to improve human health. We are a leader in the field of data sharing and have a proven track record of helping researchers manage and share data in a responsible and ethical manner. Sage’s data platform (Synapse) is a generalist repository that enables users to share data, track analyses, and collaborate.  To date, the platform shares over 2PB of data from 20,000+ projects with more than 100,000 user accounts. Synapse adheres to the F.A.I.R principles for scientific data management and stewardship, ensuring that data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. 

What is the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy?

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Data Management and Sharing Policy (DMSP) went into effect on January 25, 2023.  This new policy applies to all research funded or conducted in whole or in part by NIH. The goal of the policy is to promote the sharing of scientific data, which can accelerate biomedical research discovery, enable validation of research results, and provide accessibility to high-value datasets.

Under the policy, NIH expects that investigators and institutions will:

• Plan and budget for the managing and sharing of data.

• Submit a Data Management and Sharing (DMS) plan.

• Comply with the approved DMS plan and annually report on its implementation.

The DMSP provides guidance on how to manage and share data in a responsible and ethical manner to help accelerate biomedical research discovery and improve human health.  

How can Sage help?

In most cases you must address the NIH DMSP when submitting your grant/funding proposal.  Sage can help you with the following:

• Develop a data management and sharing plan that meets the requirements of the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.

• Develop an appropriate budget for your data management and sharing plan that meets the F.A.I.R principles.

• Provide guidance on how to store and secure your data at a level appropriate for its sensitivity.

• Promote the sharing of your data with the scientific community for scientific, education, and research purposes only.

What are Sage’s Data Platform Offerings?

Sage offers the following service plans to the scientific community:

Standard Data Hosting Plan

The Standard Plan is intended for individual researchers wanting to share small datasets (<100GB) for publication (including creating DOIs) and scientific, educational, and research collaborations. This plan includes self-service project set-up and data hosting.  Because of limits in dataset size limits, data longevity guarantees, and absence of consulting help, we do not recommend this as a response to the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. 

Managed Data Hosting Plan

The Managed Data Hosting Plan expands our Standard Plan offering by including data longevity guarantees, consultation services for setting up and sharing data according to F.A.I.R principles, access to consulting hours with our experienced governance team, and tools for managing data access requests.  This is our recommended plan for new grants that will include an NIH Data Management and Sharing plan/budget. 

Data Coordination Plan

The Data Coordination plan enables the creation of end-to-end centers in support of collaborative, multi-institutional research consortia. This plan supplements the core data platform services in the Managed Plan with additional customized consulting services, and data curation, harmonization, and validation services. It also includes work to localize data policies and governance controls to your particular country’s requirements as applicable. Finally, we provide services to create a customized and feature-rich data exploration portal for your coordination center that includes links to sophisticated computational environments.  Because data coordination projects are typically customized to meet the needs of a particular proposal, please contact us to learn more about how we can help!

Frequently Asked Questions

What materials for DMSP can Sage help me plan and budget?

Sage can help you prepare materials for your data management and sharing plan and budget. We will provide a quote for services for use in your budget as well as standardized text for your plan.

What level of support do I get for setting up my project?

Sage will help you setup your project and storage through self-service and easy-to-follow documentation.  For data coordination projects we provide customized support and storage

I already have an account with data uploaded and shared, do I need to start paying?

No, current accounts and projects are grandfathered with their current agreement with Sage.

What support does Synapse have for DOIs?

You can mint DOIs for projects and files uploaded to Synapse, extremely useful for citing data.  Learn More

What is included in consulting for the Managed Plan?

Sage provides consulting to help you upload your data and make it F.A.I.R.  For the Managed Plan, this includes 2 hours of consulting with our governance team to ensure you set the appropriate sharing policies as well as a 3 hours of solutions architect time to assist you creating your project and uploading data.  These consulting hours can be customized in your quote to better meet your needs.

What is the ongoing support included in the Managed and Data Coordination plans?

You and your data downloaders can use the Sage help desk to ask questions and receive support within our SLAs.  With the Data Coordination plan, a point of contact is assigned to you for support. 

My data is larger than the limits in the Standard and Managed Plans. Is there a way to get more?

These are the general storage limitations for each plan. These can be customized for the Managed and Data Coordination plans.  There are no data limits if you use your own cloud bucket and, depending on the dataset uploaded, may be sponsored by an existing project.  Contact us to learn more.

Where is data uploaded to Synapse stored? 

By default, data is stored in AWS US-EAST-1.  You can customize the location in the Standard and Managed Plans by providing your own cloud bucket.  This can be customized for you in the Data Coordination Plan. Learn More

Can I add controls to my data in the Standard Plan?

Sage offers controlled access data hosting in the Managed and Data Coordination plans only.

Can I integrate my 3rd party workflow tools and compute environments with Synapse?

Sage offers integrations with multiple cloud compute environments for customized Data Coordination Plans.

How do I control access to my content?

In the Standard Plan you can manually add or remove Synapse users to your project spaces.  If you contact us, we can setup additional data use limitations and require accessors to record their agreement to comply with the terms through a “clickwrap” before accessing content (There is a nominal fee in the Standard Plan. This is included in the Managed and Data Coordination plans).  

For the Data Coordination Plan we offer a complete data access committee service, either managed by you or by Sage to review/administer requests to controlled-access data.

What happens to the content at the expiration of the service plan's period?

The content will revert to the Standard Plan, the content will not be deleted.

Can I have a custom Portal for my project?

Sage offers bespoke portals for customized Data Coordination Plan.  For the Standard and Managed Plans, you can create your own lightweight portal directly in Synapse.

How to get started?

Sage’s expertise makes it easy to create a NIH Data Management and Sharing plan and budget. To support you, we provide budgeting information in the form of a quote, as well as sample text you can directly use in your plan.

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