Wellcome Trust

Time Limits

The WT expects as an absolute minimum that researchers should make relevant data available to others on publication of their research, (providing this is consistent with any ethics approvals and copyright issues).
The Trust expects researchers to consider how they can maximise any opportunities for timely and responsible pre-publication sharing of their data, where such data might be of benefit to the wider research community.
Where the primary goal of the proposal is to create a resource, the Trust expects that the data should be made as widely available as possible at the earliest opportunity. Publication will not in itself constitute a sufficient reason to delay data sharing.
All awardees are asked to report back to the Trust on their approach for disseminating their research as part of their end of grant report.
The Wellcome Trust stipulates that data must be maintained for 10 years following the completion of a research grant.

YES. Currently - A data management and sharing plan is required as part of the application where the proposal involves the generation of datasets that could be shared for added benefit.
Data management and sharing plans should take account of the following issues :
- Data quality and standards – data should be released in a format that conforms to agreed community standards, especially where this allows interoperability with other relevant datasets.
- Use of public data repositories – the Trust will expect researchers to deposit their data into recognised public data repositories where possible and a number all ready exist for many types of fundamental biological data.
- Intellectual property – where relevant, any proposed delays on data sharing to enable intellectual property protection to be gained and used should be set out and justified.
- Protection of research participants – any limitations on data sharing that serve to safeguard the privacy of research participants should be explained.
- Long-term preservation and sustainability – for proposals to establish resources, the long-term strategy for maintaining, curating and archiving the data should be set out clearly.

The WT supports unrestricted access to the published output of research.
Specifically, the WT requires electronic copies of any research papers to be made available through PubMed Central (PMC) and UK PubMed Central (UK PMC) as soon as possible or at the latest within six months of the journal publisher's official date of final publication. The Trust will provide grantholders with additional funding to cover open access charges.