N3C Data Enclave Account Creation

First Time Users

The N3C Data Enclave is a secure platform through which harmonized clinical data provided by our contributing members are stored. The data can only be accessed through a secure cloud portal hosted by NIH NCATS and cannot be downloaded or removed.

Confirm or Request a Data Use Agreement (DUA) between your Institution and N3C

To access data within the N3C Data Enclave, an institutional official from the user's home institution must sign the Data Use Agreement (DUA) and agree to the terms of service outlined by NCATS and N3C. If an individual is not affiliated with an institution, they are termed citizen scientists and may only request access to the synthetic dataset for their research. It is required that citizen scientists use the same email address to establish their DUA as they use to register for their N3C Data Enclave account.

Listed as the "accessing institution" should be either the name of the institution or the name of the citizen scientist, as appropriate. Once submitted, the approval process with NCATS should take about 5 business days. See the list of institutions with active DUAs.

For questions about this step, please visit the N3C Support Desk.

Register for an N3C Data Enclave Account

A user must register for their own account. (You cannot have someone register on your behalf.) An InCommon account is available to any user who belongs to an institution that is a member of the InCommon Federation, a federated login system used by N3C. Check here: https://www.incommon.org/community-organizations to see if your institution participates in InCommon. If your institution is not listed, you will need to sign up with a https://login.gov account.

An https://login.gov account is used by many different US Government related services and will also allow you access to the N3C Data Enclave when either (1) your institution does not participate in InCommon or (2) you are a Citizen Scientist (not affiliated with an institution). Choose a "Registration Email"—this should be an email associated with an organization such as your workplace or school, but NOT an email associated with any institution listed at https://www.incommon.org/community-organizations. Create (or use an existing) account at https://login.gov with your registration email. Citizen scientists must use the same email address to register for an account as was used to establish the Data Use Agreement (DUA) they are affiliated with.

Users fill out the N3C registration form and request an Enclave account by checking the "Access to the N3C Data Enclave" box. During registration select "Yes" to the enclave access suggestion. Access to the Enclave will be enabled after your account has been verified to be covered by a DUA that matches your account. Once an account has been generated, an email with further instructions will be sent to the email address provided. Please allow 5 business days for account creation.

If your profile information needs to be updated, it can be done so here.

NOTE: N3C members who previously had accounts for accessing Palantir training will have to re-register for a new N3C Data Enclave account to gain access.

Log in to the N3C Data Enclave

Once the previous steps have been completed, a user can log in to the N3C Data Enclave and begin the following steps to gain access to the data.

Submit a Data Use Request (DUR)

Once a user has designed a study and completed the necessary steps for the required data access level (see data access levels), they must complete and submit a Data Use Request (DUR) online form within the N3C Data Enclave. Pending approval and verification of the information, the user will then be able to access data within the Enclave in accordance with the data access tier for which they have been approved.