Federal government will require data sharing, but with several caveats

Scientists who receive federal funds for any portion of their research now risk having to release their data to anyone--private citizens, companies or organizations--who asks for it, as the result of the final revision of a regulation administered by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

And although there is potential that the regulation may be abused by people or organizations who want to undermine research for political reasons, the amended Circular A-110, as it is called, is not as troublesome for researchers as it could have been, say those who have followed the new data-sharing law since it was proposed last year.

Indeed, the law includes several important caveats. For one, researchers will not be required to release data that they believe will put research participants' privacy at risk or jeopardize intellectual property or proprietary information. And researchers will only have to release data that the federal government uses in developing agency regulations or other actions that carry the force of law.

APA and the rest of the scientific community consider these caveats as well-fought compromises in the new regulation. The final version of Circular A-110, released Oct. 7, is "certainly better than what OMB started out with," says Geoff Mumford, PhD, APA senior legislative and federal affairs officer. In particular, instead of applying to "all data" as the original wording implied, OMB limited what types of data will be released. "But it's not as good as we'd hoped for."

Scientific organizations such as APA had hoped the regulation would only pertain to research data that informed or influenced federal regulations that cost the government more than a set amount of money--for example, OMB suggested setting a $100 million impact threshold. But, in the end, OMB failed to include such a threshold in response to comments it received on the final revision of the rule. Whether the rule will significantly affect psychological researchers is "hard to predict," says Mumford. "It will probably take some time to see whether the Freedom of Information Act mechanism is abused by its proponents."

To view the final version of Circular A-110 and additional background material, visit APA's Web Site at www.apa.org/ppo/foia.html.

--B. Azar



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