As outlined in our SPARCS Data Governance: Policy and Procedure Manual for Data Release (2022), the data retention period for approved applications is two (2) years after receiving the final calendar year of data. Your approval letter will list the expiration date. The project is closed when the retention period expires, upon project completion and the return/destruction of the data, or upon withdrawal of the request.
If additional time is required to complete the project, the data retention period may be extended by up to one (1) year. All extension requests must be submitted before the expiration of the data lease for SPARCS program review.
Please note that failure to comply with our data lease compliance inquiries will impact your organization's future applications. Additionally, SPARCS will not accept extension requests after a data lease expires.
If you wish to request an extension of the data retention period, please submit a SPARCS Extension Request Form before the expiration date. As part of this request, you must include the following:
- A clear justification outlining why the extension is necessary and how it aligns with your original approved research aims
- A summary of your progress to date
- A timeline for completing your remaining work within the proposed extension period
- Any draft manuscripts or publications you plan to disseminate using SPARCS data. These must be submitted for review prior to dissemination, per SPARCS policy.