Submitting Data Under the Data Resources Program
Data Submission Process
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Recipients of NIJ research funding must submit data resulting from their projects to NIJ for archiving with the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), with some exceptions.[1] Making these data available allows researchers to test each other's conclusions — verifying, refining or refuting original findings — and develop and test new conclusions.
Submission of the data typically follows these general steps:
- Data archiving strategy — applicants for solicitations requiring data archiving must include a data archiving strategy as part of their proposal. That strategy dictates what data sets and documentation should be submitted at the award's end.
- Grantee submits data — 90 days before the end of the grant period, the grantee submits the data used for the project using the Deposit Form for NIJ Awardees (registration and login required).
For guidance on submitting different types of data see: - Data review — a data reviewer at NACJD reviews the submitted data and documentation and within 10 business days submits a Deposit Review Report for review by the NACJD archive manager and NIJ grant manager. To see the criteria used to determine the completeness of data submissions, read the Data Deposit Review Report. Note, grantees are not responsible for completing this form. It is included here only to give you insight into the data submission requirements.
- Approval or rejection — the NIJ grant manager determines if the data can be archived (go to Step 6) or rejected (go to Step 5) in its current form.
- Revising the data submission — if the data submission is rejected, it goes back to the grantee with specific comments that the grantee and NACJD data processor work to address. The data are then resubmitted.
- Archiving the data set — once approved by the NIJ grant manager, the data set joins other recently approved data sets in the processing queue for inclusion in the archive.[2] Typically, data are processed first-in, first-out, but there are exceptions for data needing immediate processing. Once processed, the data are placed in a restricted area — the enclave — until the level of protection the data require is determined.[3] See Protections and Restrictions on Use of Data Provided Through the Data Resources Program.
Notes
[1] See the specific requirements as detailed in each solicitation and the funding documentation for every award.
[2] Because of increased submissions of data sets, not all data are processed for dissemination. Some data are processed only for preservation until they are requested. A study description always is added to the NACJD data collection regardless of how the data are processed.
[3] The level of protection that the data require will have been discussed and agreed upon by the grantee and the NIJ grant manager at the onset of the project.
