Open Science at NASA – Data Management Policies for BPS (Biological and Physical Sciences)

To increase scientific research throughput and the transparency of government funded research, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seeks to transform the collection, archival/preservation, curation, and distribution of science data.

These changes are intended to shift the conduct of NASA-sponsored research towards an “Open Science” framework, one in which all information necessary to support scientific reasoning are easily accessed by and precisely communicated to other researchers, and to the public.

To that end, the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has issued new policies as described in the Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate (SMD Policy Document SPD-41a).

The Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division of SMD, has further specified the SPD-41a polices in the BPS Scientific Data Management Policy (BPS-021). Guidance and aids on implementing these data management policies are found at the following locations:

• Space Biology Open Science-Data Management Plan (OS-DMP) Template and Guidance
• ROSES Open Science and Data Management Plan
• NASA Science Mission Directorate: Open-Source Science Guidance

Astrobiology