Federal Research Guidance & Resources

ClinicalTrials.gov

ClinicalTrials.gov is a registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world.

Clinical trials and subsequent study results are required by public law to be registered. Failure to comply with this law can result in financial penalties and the inability to publish study findings in major scientific journals.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) serves as the Institutional Protocol Registration System (PRS) administrator. For more information about this requirement and assistance with registering a study and submitting results, go to StarBRITE and click on “Planning & Implementation” then “ClinicalTrials.gov.” You may also call the Research Support Services hotline at 615-322-7343.

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Administrator’s Resource – Quick Reference Guide


NIH Public Access Policy

The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

The Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) has developed the "NIH Public Access Compliance" tool, available through the StarBRITE online research portal, to help Vanderbilt researchers ensure that their publications are compliant.

For more information about the compliance dashboard, publication policies and other assistance, go to StarBRITE and click on “NIH Public Access Compliance” on the right hand menu. You may also call the Research Support Services hotline at 615-322-7343.


NIH Policy on Foreign Interference

Acknowledging that the overwhelming majority of researchers participating on NIH grants, whether U.S. or foreign-born, are honest, hard-working contributors to the advancement of knowledge, the U.S. government has ongoing concerns about inappropriate interference by foreign governments over federally funded research. Since NIH started working in 2016 on undue foreign interference in NIH-funded research, they have become aware of three types of problems: undisclosed sources of foreign research support, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and violations of peer review integrity rules.

NIH has summarized the responsibilities of both the award applicant and the recipient institution to disclose other support, foreign components, and conflicts of interest on NIH applications and awards, including the appropriate NIH forms for reporting each disclosure.

NIH has compiled the related notices, policy references, statements, reports and other resources from NIH, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Justice, and others. 


NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy

The 2023 NIH data management and sharing policy aims to promote the sharing of scientific data. Sharing scientific data accelerates biomedical research discovery by enabling the validation of research results, providing accessibility to high-value datasets, and promoting data reuse for future research studies.

Explore the policy and a variety of resources to support VUMC investigators.