The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has implemented a 'data management plan' for its grant applicants, in effect from 18 January. Applicants are asked to specify, in no more than two pages, how data generated through their grants will be accessed, archived and shared — this includes revealing the types of data and other materials that will be produced, creating policies for data distribution and plans for archiving, and making provisions for accessing and sharing the data. These could, for example, address confidentiality and intellectual-property concerns. Announced last May, the guidelines let individual NSF divisions tailor the policy to their discipline's needs.