Data Policies & Guidance
Federal data policies and practical guidance to help NOAA staff understand their obligations and how to meet them.
Federal Data Policies
These laws and directives establish the legal framework for how federal agencies must collect, manage, share, and preserve data.
Evidence Act (2018)
Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act — requires agencies to designate Chief Data Officers, develop learning agendas, and make data available for evidence-building.
What it means for you: Data collected with federal resources must be managed well enough to be reused for future policy and research.
Information Quality Act (IQA)
Requires federal agencies to ensure the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information they disseminate.
What it means for you: Data products must meet documented quality standards before public release.
OPEN Government Data Act
Part of the Evidence Act — requires federal data to be published as machine-readable, open data by default.
What it means for you: FAIR data principles are a legal requirement, not just a best practice.
OSTP Open Science Memo (2022)
“Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research” — requires data underlying publications to be publicly accessible at time of publication.
What it means for you: Plan for open data sharing from the start of every project.
OMB M-19-15
Updated guidance on IQA implementation, including peer review requirements for influential scientific information.
What it means for you: Peer review and quality documentation are required for disseminated scientific products.
NAO 212-15B
NOAA Administrative Order establishing requirements for full data lifecycle management across all NOAA data domains.
What it means for you: The primary NOAA policy document your data management practices must comply with.
Data Guidance
Practical guidance documents to help NOAA scientists and data managers implement good data practices. Links will be added as guidance is finalized.
NOAA Fisheries Data Preservation Guidance
Internal - Published 2025 All NOAA Fisheries Data Stewards?
NOAA Fisheries FMCs must quickly assess which data may be at a level of risk. NOAA Fisheries program/laboratory/data leaders must work with their appropriate Assistant Chief Data Officers (ACDOs) to identify these data, ensure that a minimum level of information for these data is recorded, and secure these data in appropriate storage.
Guidance for Adding New Metadata Records to InPort
Internal - Published 2026 All NOAA Fisheries Data Users
Step-by-step guidance for writing Data Management Plans (DMPs) that satisfy NSF, NIH, and NOAA requirements.
Metadata Completeness and Quality Checks
Internal - Published 2024 NOAA Fisheries Data Stewards
The NOAA Metadata Rubric evaluates the presence or absence of content in a standard NOAA compliant metadata record.