Policy Areas

NIH promotes the safe and responsible use of AI in biomedical research through programs that support the development and use of algorithms and models for research, contribute to AI-ready datasets that accelerate discovery, and encourage multi-disciplinary partnerships that drive transparency, privacy, and equity.

NIH invests more than $17 billion in clinical research each year. OSP works with clinical researchers, patients, research participants, healthcare providers, ethicists, government agencies, and other stakeholders to ensure NIH policies prioritize research participant trust…

Sharing scientific data accelerates biomedical research discovery, enhances research rigor and reproducibility, provides accessibility to high-value datasets, and promotes data reuse for future research studies. As a steward of the nation’s investment in biomedical research…

Life sciences research is essential to protecting global health security by helping us to understand the fundamental nature of human-pathogen interactions and informing public health and preparedness efforts, such as the development of vaccines and medical…

For decades, NIH has pioneered efforts to increase public access to publications resulting from its supported research. The 2008 NIH Public Access Policy has resulted in more than 1.4 million articles reporting on NIH-supported research being freely available to the public in PubMed Central.

As a publicly funded research agency, NIH has a responsibility to make sure we – and the people and work we fund – support ethically grounded research. Being at the intersection of research and policy, OSP works across NIH to integrate ethical principles into the…

Discoveries emerging from NIH-funded research have led to new ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat illness, ultimately effecting the health of the nation and the world. OSP works across the NIH to promote the translation of clinical research discoveries into healthcare…

Certain biotechnologies pose unique scientific, ethical, and social considerations in their application into scientific research and clinical practice. OSP works with researchers to harness the power of scientific advances in emerging technologies like stem cells, organoids…

Investment in NIH spurs economic growth, both by supporting research jobs and by generating biomedical innovations commercialized into new products. OSP supports partnerships between government agencies and private industry to accelerate progress toward…

Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee (NEXTRAC) & National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB)

Scientific integrity ensures that science is conducted, managed, communicated, and used in ways that preserve its accuracy and objectivity and protect it from suppression, manipulation, and inappropriate influence. NIH seeks to incorporate robust scientific integrity principles and practices throughout every level of its scientific enterprise…