Researcher Essentials
Join the Effort
Register for access to the N3C Data Enclave and explore harmonized clinical data within a secure analytics platform.
Researchers are welcome to request access to the N3C Data Enclave, one of the largest, most secure clinical data resources for accelerating and collaborating on COVID-19 research. Users may also join or start an N3C Domain Team to help coordinate work with others. If you experience difficulty at any stage in your enclave journey, please visit the N3C Support Desk.
The Researcher's Guide to N3C
Gain Access to the Enclave
- Complete the Enclave Registration Checklist to expedite your N3C Data Enclave account creation.
- Follow the Enclave Registration Instructions to request and access your enclave account. During the process of creating your enclave account, you will also complete your N3C registration. You can update your profile information anytime here.
Clinical Domain Teams
N3C Clinical Domain Teams enable researchers with shared interests to analyze data within the N3C Data Enclave more efficiently and to collaborate on multi-site research. The Clinical Domain Teams, developed within the Clinical Scenarios subgroup, focus on specific clinical questions surrounding COVID-19's impact on health conditions. Clinical Domain Teams are enabled by Slack channels for discussion, meetings, and document management, and are supported by N3C workstreams and administration. N3C encourages researchers of all levels to join a Domain Team that represents their interests, or to suggest new clinical areas to explore.
Required Governance Documents
- The Data Use Agreement (DUA) is a legal document that covers the terms of how data are accessed or used within the N3C Data Enclave. It is executed between NCATS and a research institution (or directly with a researcher in the case of an individual citizen scientist who is not affiliated with an institution). This agreement covers the contributing site’s use of the data for research. Signing of the DUA and IRB approval are both required to use data in the N3C Data Enclave.
- See the list of institutions with active DUAs
- A Data Use Request (DUR) is an electronic application submitted within the N3C Data Enclave by the researcher to describe the scope and nature of their work and to justify the data access tier they are requesting. Approved DURs are valid for 1 year and are renewable. Learn more about the online Data Use Request (DUR) process here.
To Cite the N3C: "The analyses described in this [publication/report/presentation] were conducted with data or tools accessed through the NCATS N3C Data Enclave https://covid.cd2h.org and N3C Attribution & Publication Policy v 1.2-2020-08-25b supported by NCATS U24 TR002306 and [insert additional funding agencies or sources and reference numbers as declared by the contributors in their form response above]. This research was possible because of the patients whose information is included within the data and the organizations (https://ncats.nih.gov/n3c/resources/data-contribution/data-transfer-agreement-signatories) and scientists who have contributed to the on-going development of this community resource [https://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocaa196]."
For publication submission information, please see the Publication Review Page