NIH Challenge aimed at incentivizing data sharing recognizes Phase 1 winners

Ten teams are being recognized for their proof-of-concept ideas following Phase 1 of the Data Sharing Index ("S-Index") Challenge, a National Institutes of Health competition aimed at incentivizing data sharing by calling on entrants to develop a robust novel metric that rewards researchers who share high-quality data.

The concept for an S-index challenge was inspired by the h-index, developed by J.E. Hirsch in 2005, which evaluates research performance based on the impact and number of publications rather than the journal prestige or authorship order.

"Developing an S-Index metric will promote culture change in through incentivizing excellence in data sharing - in terms of quality as well as quantity," said Michael F. Chiang, director of the National Eye Institute, which administers the challenge on behalf of NIH.

"The ideas that have emerged in Phase 1 demonstrate enormous creativity and reflect a strong commitment to making research data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable, according to the FAIR principles," Chiang said.

Phase 1 Challenge Winners

The seven winning teams will each receive $15,000 and advance to Phase 2 of the Challenge to compete for the grand prize. Their projects and teams include:

Project: Engaging key stakeholder communities to promote data sharing and reuse, and to understand impact through a composite S-index

• Lead: Griffin Weber, M.D., Ph.D. (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center)

• Team: Katy Börner, Ph.D. (Indiana University), Amy Brand, Ph.D. (MIT), Kristi Holmes, Ph.D. (Northwestern University), Daniel Hook, Ph.D. (Digital Science), John Inglis, Ph.D. (bioRxiv, medRxiv), Chonnetti Jones, Ph.D. (Addgene), Arjun Krishanan, Ph.D. (University of Colorado Anschutz) and Steinn Sigurdsson, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania State University)

Project: The SHARE Index: a unified metric for recognizing exemplary data sharing behavior

• Lead: Shuhan He, M.D. (Conduct Science, Harvard Medical School)

• Team: Allison Goff, Ph.D. and Henry He, Ph.D. (Conduct Science)

Project: The S-Index: how many researchers has your data enabled?

• Lead: Taom Sakal, Ph.D. (Great Ecology)

Project: S-Index: an adaptive metric to reward FAIR, fast, and far-reaching data sharing

• Lead: Kuan-lin Huang, Ph.D. (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

• Team: Zehra Korkusuz (MobilAction)

Project: An S-index to quantify responsible, impactful data sharing practices

• Lead: Travis Redd, M.D., Ph.D. (Oregon Health & Science University)

• Team: Maria Woodward, M.D., and Paula Anne Newman-Casey, M.D. (University of Michigan), Michelle Hribar, Ph.D., and Robin Champieux (Oregon Health & Science University)

Project: A simple and field-aware S-index for promoting and rewarding data sharing

• Lead: Bhavesh Patel, Ph.D. (California Medical Innovations Institute)

• Team: Aaron Y. Lee, M.D. (University of Washington), Sanjay Soundarajan (California Medical Innovations Institute)

Project: S-index - a refined data sharing index to promote and reward biomedical data reuse

• Lead: Hua Xu, Ph.D. (Yale School of Medicine)

• Team: Kalpana Raja, Ph.D. and Lucila Ohno-Machado, M.D., Ph.D. (Yale school of Medicine

Honorable Mentions

Three teams will be awarded $2500 each in recognition as honorable mentions.

Project: The FAIR-enhanced data sharing index (S-index): enhancing data sharing through comprehensive evaluation of reuse and rigor

• Lead: Benjamin Dichter, Ph.D. (CatalystNeuro)

• Team: Ryan Ly, Ph.D., Stephanie Prince, Ph.D., and Oliver Rübel, Ph.D. (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Project: S-index

• Lead: Yue Wu, Ph.D. (University of Washington)

• Team: Russell N. Van Gelder, M.D., Ph.D., Aaron Y. Lee, M.D., and Cecilia S. Lee, M.D. (University of Washington), Bhavesh Patel, Ph.D. (California Medical Innovations Institute)

Project: Quantifying Research Transparency

• Lead: Ann Wells, Ph.D. (The Jackson Laboratory)

What's next

The submission period for Phase 2 begins on September 17, 2025. At this stage, finalist teams may add new members if they need additional expertise to strengthen their Phase 2 submission. However, the team's official lead and the originally registered entity (whether an institution, company, or individual) must remain the same. For more information, visit the Challenge webpage.