NIST Order 5702.00 Ver. 2 (Uncontrolled Copy in Print) Page 1

Preservation and Maintenance

of Published Research Data

NIST O 5702.00

Issue Date: 11/12/2019

Effective Date: 11/13/2017

I. PURPOSE

This order describes requirements and responsibilities for preservation and maintenance of 

published research data that is relatively static, i.e., not live-streamed or near-real-time. This 

“relatively static” research data includes data that is updated or corrected after initial 

publication, but remains unchanged except for these updates.

II. APPLICABILTY

This order applies to1,2

1. All National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) employees, including fulland part-time employees, temporary government employees, and special government 

employees, who publish scholarly and technical material, including data, as part of their 

employment.

2. All NIST associates engaged in research activities at or for NIST who publish scholarly 

and technical material, including data, to the extent allowed by law and the terms of the 

associate's agreement,

3. All NIST employees involved in the awarding and/or oversight of NIST contracts, 

financial assistance awards, or other agreements.

III. REFERENCE

 

1 A non-NIST organization that publishes scholarly and technical material, including data, through activities funded 

wholly or in part by NIST through a grant, cooperative agreement, contract, or other agreement, must manage public 

access to published scholarly and technical material, including data, as agreed to by NIST and that organization in 

the terms and conditions of the grant, cooperative agreement, contract, or other agreement between NIST and the 

non-NIST organization.

2

 In cases where a NIST employee collaborates with an external researcher without an underlying written 

agreement, expectations for generating a data management plan (DMP) and providing public access to resulting data 

and/or code should be discussed at the outset of the collaboration. If NIST has the greater role in the project, the 

DMP should be generated by NIST in accordance with NIST policies. If the external researcher has the greater role 

and/or has intellectual property rights over the data and/or code, generation of the DMP and provision of public 

access to the data and/or code should follow their institution’s requirements. If the external researcher does not 

intend to provide public access but is agreeable to NIST providing access, OU management decides whether NIST 

will do so. This agreement should be obtained in writing. For more information, see NIST G5702.01, Guidance for 

Making Non-NIST Data Available Through NIST’s Data Management Infrastructure. 
NIST Order 5702.00 Ver. 2 (Uncontrolled Copy in Print) Page 2

• Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002

• NIST P 5700.00 Policy on Managing Public Access to Results of Federally Funded 

Research

• NIST O 5701.00 Managing Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research

• NIST O 1801.00 Review of Fundamental Research Communications

• NIST S 1801.02 Review of Data Intended for Publication

• NIST Records Retention Schedule, Section 1a

IV. DEFINITIONS3

Authoritative Version: A datafile that is deemed reliable by the researcher and his/her 

supervisor. 

Data Steward: The person who is responsible for uploading data to the NIST data 

repository and for ensuring that information provided in the EDI is current. The steward 

may or may not be a principal investigator or a person who generated the data, and there 

may be more than one steward for a dataset.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): A string of characters used to identify an object such as an 

electronic document or dataset.

NIST Data Repositories: Data repositories that have been assessed and authorized by NIST 

to operate, including, for example, those that house Standard Reference Data, the National 

Vulnerability Database, and disaster data, as well as the repository associated with NIST’s 

Enterprise Data Inventory. 

NIST Enterprise Data Inventory (EDI): A searchable system containing a comprehensive 

listing of NIST datasets with associated metadata, including an indication of whether they 

may be made publicly available (i.e., release is permitted by law, regulation and policy, 

subject to all privacy, confidentiality, security, and other valid requirements) and whether 

they are currently available to the public. 

Published Data: Data that is made available to the public, either as part of a scholarly 

publication or as a stand-alone dataset. In either case, it has been reviewed and approved 

consistent with NIST O 1801.00 Review of Fundamental Research Communications and 

S 1801.02 Review of Data Intended for Publication. Published data does not include data 

made available through limited distribution, e.g., to a group of collaborators.

Research Data: The recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific 

community as necessary to validate research findings, but not any of the following: 

preliminary analyses, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer reviews, or 

 

3 All definitions are in the context of this directive and are listed in alphabetical order. In cases where a definition is 

adopted from a reference, the reference is cited in a footnote.
NIST Order 5702.00 Ver. 2 (Uncontrolled Copy in Print) Page 3

communications with colleagues. This “recorded” material excludes physical objects (e.g., 

laboratory samples). Research data also does not include: 

(i) Trade secrets, commercial information, materials necessary to be held confidential by 

a researcher until they are published, or similar information which is protected under law; 

and 

(ii) Personnel and medical information and similar information the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, such as information 

that could be used to identify a particular person in a research study.4 

For purposes of this order, NIST considers the contents of laboratory notebooks to be 

preliminary analyses. 

V. REQUIREMENTS

The authoritative version of data that was (1) produced by NIST and that was (2) funded 

wholly or in part by NIST must be deposited in a NIST data repository to ensure that 

confidentiality, integrity, and availability are maintained. 

Data may be additionally published in non-NIST repositories that are acceptable to the 

principal investigator’s Organizational Unit (OU); the data steward or principal investigator 

must update the EDI record to provide the location(s) of non-NIST copies. End users can

verify the integrity of those copies by comparing them to the authoritative versions in the 

NIST repository associated with the EDI.

Published data is assigned a DOI.

For data that was produced by an external recipient of NIST funding through a grant, 

contract, or other agreement, the NIST Program Officer must create a record in the EDI, 

consistent with terms and conditions of the funding agreement. Additional guidance is 

provided in PR 5701.00 Managing Public Access to External Research Funded by NIST.

VI.RESPONSIBILITIES

Chief Information Officer (CIO)

• Provides oversight for maintenance of NIST-level information technology 

infrastructure to support NIST’s provision of public access to data through NIST data 

repositories.

• Ensures security of NIST’s EDI and datasets stored in the associated repository in 

cooperation with the Director, Office of Data and Informatics.

• Provides oversight for maintenance of a method for users of NIST data to verify the 

integrity of NIST data they obtain from an external location.

 

4 2 C.F.R. §200.315 (e)(3) 
NIST Order 5702.00 Ver. 2 (Uncontrolled Copy in Print) Page 4

Director, Office of Data and Informatics (ODI)

• Maintains and ensures security and integrity of public data dissemination services for 

datasets stored in the NIST data repository that is associated with NIST’s EDI in 

cooperation with the CIO.

• Ensures that the NIST data repository that is associated with NIST’s EDI adheres to 

preservation standards and best practices.

Director, Information Services Office

• Provides oversight for creation and maintenance of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs)

for published data.

OU Director or Office Director

• Ensures that employees under his/her supervision publish the authoritative version of 

his/her research data in a NIST data repository and update EDI records appropriately.

Supervisory Employee within an OU or Office within the ADLP Directorate

• Ensures that EDI records are updated and maintained when employees depart, e.g., by 

assigning a new data steward if appropriate.

Data Steward

• Follows requirements of NIST O 5701.00 Managing Public Access to Results of 

Federally Funded Research for providing metadata to the EDI.

• Follows requirements of NIST O 1801.00 Review of Fundamental Research 

Communications and S 1801.02 Review of Data Intended for Publication for review 

and approval of fundamental research communications prior to publication.

• Publishes the authoritative version of data in a NIST data repository.

• May publish data in additional repositories.

• Updates EDI record to show location(s) of additional deposits if data has been 

published in additional repositories.

Federal Program Officer for NIST-Funded External Scientific Research 

• Creates a record in the EDI for the data generated through NIST-funded scientific 

research, consistent with terms and conditions of the funding agreement.

VII. DIRECTIVE OWNER

602 – Special Programs Office

VIII. APPENDICIES
NIST Order 5702.00 Ver. 2 (Uncontrolled Copy in Print) Page 5

A. Revision History 
NIST Order 5702.00 Ver. 2 (Uncontrolled Copy in Print) Page 6

APPENDIX A

REVISION HISTORY

Revision Date Responsible Person Description of Change

Initial 1/4/2016 Katherine Sharpless Initial draft

Rev. .01 8/7/2017 Dan Cipra Formatting updates Only

Rev. .02 11/7/2017 Katherine Sharpless DRB Meeting updates

Rev. .03 11/8/2019 Katherine Sharpless Clarified responsibilities for providing 

public access to results from 

collaborations