The NSF has released a new Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), effective January 14, 2013. This guide includes updates to the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) as well as the Award and Administration Guide (AAG).

Among the various changes is a significant change is to the Biographical Sketches portion of the proposal. No longer are researchers asked to list just their “relevant publications.” After January, researchers will be requested to list their “relevant products.” To quote the new guide:

Chapter II.C.2.f(i)(c), Biographical Sketch(es), has been revised to rename the “Publications” section to “Products” and amend terminology and instructions accordingly. This change makes clear that products may include, but are not limited to, publications, data sets, software, patents, and copyrights.

As Carly Strasser points out, this is “great news for those of us trying to get data the recognition it deserves.” Sherry Lake at the University of Virginia, and resident requirements analyst here at the DMPTool, has examined the new requirements and determined that no changes will be needed to the DMPTool. Any data management plan that you create using the DMPTool today will meet these new NSF requirements. We are working to stay abreast of developments in the rapidly changing area of data management and US federal agencies.