Submitting Your Data For Review

If you have data to share with the dental, oral and craniofacial research community, the first step is to submit a request to contribute data to FaceBase using our online form.

Overview of the Contribution Process

You submit a dataset proposal through a brief form. This tells us about your project and the data you plan to share.
The FaceBase team reviews your proposal. We confirm that the data are within scope and may contact you with questions.
NIH program staff review for final approval. This step typically takes about two weeks, sometimes longer.
After approval, FaceBase contacts you to begin onboarding. We set up your project, give you access, and guide you through:
- Creating dataset records
- Entering metadata
- Uploading files
You upload your data and complete the required metadata. This happens after onboarding, with guidance from the FaceBase team.
FaceBase curates your data with you to ensure quality and FAIR principles. We work with you to make sure the data are well-described, consistent, and useful to the community.
You review and approve your dataset for release. For controlled-access data, this may mean releasing the public-facing metadata while keeping the data protected.
You may choose to keep your dataset under embargo. This allows you to delay public release until, for example, a related publication is published.

Before you fill out the form

Data Access Policies: Understand our policies for accessing open vs. controlled (human) data.
Current Data Priorities: View the types of data that are particularly valuable for our repository.

You will be asked to refer to the Current Data Priorities page and explain how your data are within scope and provide value to the craniofacial research community.

Click here to fill out the Data Submission Form

If your data is derived from human subjects

If any of your data is derived from human subjects, FaceBase will require demonstration that the participants have consented to having their data shared publicly, through controlled access. The submitting institution is required to submit an Institutional Certification verifying this information.

Contact help@facebase.org with questions regarding completing and submitting the Institutional Certification covering your FaceBase controlled access data submission.

If your research was not sponsored by the NIH, we will request the following documentation: Federalwide Assurance (FWA) number, IRB approval letter (or letter from equivalent ethics board at your institution), description of variables, and contact information of PIs.

For questions related to IRBs, please consult the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' site for the Office of Human Protections (OHRP), in particular Register IRBs & Obtain FWAs .

Also, please refer to our Guidelines for Submitting Controlled Access Data documentation for details you will need to know before you can upload human subjects data.

Note: Approval of human subjects data may take longer in order to ensure all of the appropriate documentation is available.