NIH’s new system for reporting and managing your inclusion data is now here. The Inclusion Management System allows grantees to use the eRA Commons to report sex/gender, race, and ethnicity information as required by NIH’s policy on the Inclusion of Women and Minorities in Clinical Research.
Previously, grantees primarily used PDFs or hard copies to submit planned or actual enrollment data to NIH with competing applications and progress reports. Now, thanks to the Inclusion Management System, grantees can access dynamically update inclusion data throughout the application and award process. When submitting a competing application, the inclusion enrollment forms will automatically populate the IMS. After peer review is complete, grantees can directly view and update inclusion data through the life of their clinical research award. The IMS is accessible via the Commons Status screen and is integrated with the RPPR for annual progress reporting of inclusion data. The system also takes advantage of the updated format for reporting inclusion data, as described in this Rock Talk blog post as well as this followup NIH Guide Notice.
Looking for help on using the system? Help buttons take you to online help throughout the IMS system, and you can also view the entire IMS user guide online as well.
Looking for additional help in understanding how NIH’s inclusion policy works? Check out the NIH inclusion of women and minorities policy website which has been recently updated to include resources such as a decision tree to help you determine which of your studies are subject to NIH’s inclusion policy, frequently asked questions, a podcast and narrated slide deck on race and ethnicity reporting, and more.