• Overview
  
  
• How will the database be used?
  
  
• How will it save time and money?
  
  

Overview

The NIH Intramural Database (NIDB) is a compilation of information on all NIH intramural scientists and their research. As much as is possible, the database will also include information on scientists who have left NIH. Until now, personnel data on permanent staff and trainees has been in different repositories, and different information has been collected on scientists on different personnel mechanisms or in different institutes. Information on the research and professional training of these scientists may reside in other databases or not be available at all, making it very difficult to conduct multi-institute analyses and oversight. Information on scientists who have left NIH after training or working here is simply unavailable, making it difficult to gauge the effect of NIH's training programs.

The NIH Intramural Database has a public and a private side. Information on scientists' research, such as Annual Z01 Reports and Annual Bibliographies, will be available to the public via CRISP and the NIH Home Page. In addition, the Annual Reports are available for a full text search from the NIDB site, starting with 1998 (Search Annual Reports ). Private personnel information will be secured, confidential, and accessible only to approved individuals with a bona fide need to know.

How will the database be used?
The NIH Intramural Database will be used by individual institutes and by the Office of Intramural Research to carry out oversight responsibilities more efficiently. Consultation of the NIDB database, in conjunction with other NIH databases as needed, will replace repeated contact with all the individual ICs to obtain a number of different types of information. This includes queries on subjects such as:

• How many scientists are conducting research relevant to a given topic.
  
  
• How long different categories of individuals are residing at particular employment levels.
  
  
• Who has and has not received required training.
  
  
• What labs and individuals are up for BSC review.
  
  
• How many scientists there are in different professional designations.
  
  
• What level of professional collaboration is going on between and within institutes as demonstrated by co-authorship on papers and listings on Annual Reports.
  
  
• How salaries compare for different groups of scientists.
  
  
• The database will give us the information we need to:
  
  
  • Respond to NIH-wide Congressional inquiries about intramural research.
    
    
  • Provide management controls required by law and good administrative practice.
    
    
  • Gauge the success of our training programs.
    
    

How will it save time and money?

• At the lab- and IC-level, the NIDB will:
  
  
  • Collect annual bibliographies and Z01 Annual Reports.
    
    
  • Be a reliable source of information for scientists trying to identify potential collaborators at NIH.
    
    
• For the Scientific Directors' offices, the database will:
  
  
  • Eliminate many of OD's frequent requests for demographic and research data about scientific staff.