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U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Policies

Last reviewed on: July 30, 2021.

Accessibility Policy

NIA is making every effort to ensure that the information available on our website is accessible to all. If you use special adaptive equipment to access the internet and encounter problems when using our site, please contact us and we will attempt to provide the information to you in a suitable format. Please be  as specific as possible when describing the information you seek.

If you prefer to call, our main number is 800-222-2222 (English & Spanish).

To learn more about the regulations governing the accessibility of federal electronic information products, visit the United States Access Board or the official Section 508 page.

Notice to People with Limited English Proficiency

NIA is committed to providing meaningful access to its programs and activities for people with limited English proficiency (LEP). In accordance with Executive Order 13166, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency,” the information translated on the nia.nih.gov site is free of charge to the public.

Content Inventory and Posting Schedule

The National Institute on Aging, following the guidance of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), developed this inventory of content as required by Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Government Act of 2002. For background on this requirement, go to www.archives.gov/about/laws/egov-act-section-207.html.

Categories of Information Disseminated by NIA

  • Column 1 lists the categories of information NIA disseminates.
  • Column 2 indicates the priority NIA assigns to publication of each category.
    • Priority 1: Urgent public health emergency and safety information.
    • Priority 2: Time-sensitive information.
    • Priority 3: Information of interest to a broad spectrum of audiences.
    • Priority 4: Other information.
  • Column 3 indicates the publication schedule for the category.

Category

Priority

Publication Target
  • Press information, including press releases, fact sheets, speeches, events, and testimony.

2

As available, unless otherwise required by law
  • Authoritative health, scientific and consumer information intended for consumers, the professional community, students, researchers, and the media.

3

As available, unless otherwise required by law
  • General agency information, such as mission and function statements, leadership biographies, visitor information, employment opportunities, staff directories, etc.

4

As available, unless otherwise required by law
  • Programmatic and administrative information, including descriptive narratives, statistical information, technical assistance materials, best practices, and reports.

4

As available, unless otherwise required by law
  • Grant and contract policy and funding information related to all programmatic activities.

2

As available, unless otherwise required by law
  • Research resources such as data banks, gene collections, model organisms, cell registries, and reagent repositories.

4

As available, unless otherwise required by law
  • Reports to Congress as required by statute.

4

As required by law

The public may reproduce without permission information from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) Web site, except for documents that state another copyright policy applies to them. Restrictions on the reproduction of a document may arise if a private party has sponsored it. Information presented on NIA’s Web site is authored and owned by the Federal government which is in the public domain.

However, using NIA web sites, you may encounter documents, illustrations, photographs, or other information resources contributed or licensed by private individuals, companies, or organizations that may be protected by U.S. and foreign copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use as defined in the copyright laws requires the written permission of the copyright owners. See Copyrighted Materials section below for further details.

Specific NIA Web sites containing protected information provide additional notification of conditions associated with its use.

Any information that is reproduced from this site should contain proper acknowledgement of NIA as the originator and NIA’s Web site (www.nia.nih.gov) as the source.

Copyrighted Material

Some information on NIA’s Web site may be subject to copyright restrictions. This information includes documents, images, or multimedia in which another copyright policy applies to them. This information may include but not limited to:

  • Rights managed images, documents, or multimedia
  • Royalty free images, documents, or multimedia
  • Privately sponsored images, documents, or multimedia
  • Documents, images, or files marked with a copyright symbol
  • Documents, images, or files displaying the phrase, “All Rights Reserved”

Note: United States law does not require a copyright notice, and therefore, not all copyrighted material available on NIA’s Web site will be necessarily marked in these ways. Therefore it is the responsibility of the person/agency using or copying the information to research whether the information is copyrighted and under what laws the material falls as well as what restrictions for use may be applicable.

If a page is copyrighted, transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use as defined in federal copyright laws may require written permission of the copyright owners.

Information Quality

The NIA adheres to National Institutes of Health standards for information quality, found at http://aspe.hhs.gov/infoquality/Guidelines/NIHinfo2.shtml. Learn about Plain Writing at NIH at https://www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/nih-office-director/office-communications-public-liaison/clear-communication/plain-language.

Digital Strategy

You can find the HHS Digital Strategy, including information on governance and data publication processes at http://www.hhs.gov/web/governance/digital-strategy/index.html.

Small Business Point of Contact

If you're a small business interested in contracting at NIH, please start by reading the information provided by our parent Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, at http://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/asfr/ogapa/osbdu/index.html.

Open Government

Read the Open Government Plan from the Department of Health and Human Services, our parent Agency, at http://www.hhs.gov/open.

No FEAR Act - Notification and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination and Retaliation Act

On May 15, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-Discrimination and Retaliation (No FEAR) Act (Public Law No. 107-174) to increase federal agency accountability for acts of discrimination or reprisal against employees. The No FEAR Act became effective on October 1, 2003.

This act requires that federal agencies post on their public Web sites certain summary statistical data relating to equal employment opportunity complaints filed against the respective agencies.

Statistical information in accordance with the No FEAR Act relating to the National Institutes of Health equal employment opportunity complaints is available on the NIH/EDI Web site.

Privacy Policy

Of the information we learn about you from your visit to the National Institute on Aging Web site, we store only the following: the domain name from which you access the Internet, the date and time you access our site, and the Internet address of the Web site from which you direct-linked to our site. This information is used to measure the number of visitors to the various sections of our site and to help us make our site more useful to visitors. Unless it is specifically stated otherwise, no additional information will be collected about you.

When inquiries are e-mailed to us, we store the question and the e-mail address information so that we can respond electronically. Unless otherwise required by statute, we do not identify publicly who sends questions or comments to our Web site. We will not obtain information that will allow us to personally identify you when you visit our site, unless you chose to provide such information to us.

To protect your privacy, be sure to close your browser completely after you have finished conducting business with the NIA Web site. If you are concerned about the potential use of information gathered from your computer by cookies, you can set your browser to prompt you before it accepts a cookie. Most Internet browsers have settings that let you identify and/or reject cookies.

Survey Disclaimer 

OMB#: 0925-0648 Exp. Date 05/31/2021 
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average two minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: NIH Project Clearance Branch, 6705 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7974, Bethesda, MD 20892-7974, ATTN: PRA (0925-0648).

How NIA uses Third-Party Web sites and Applications

As part of the OMB Memo M-10-06, Open Government Directive , the NIA uses a variety of new technologies and social media options to communicate and interact with citizens. These sites and applications include popular social networking and media sites, open source software communities and more. Third Party Web sites and Applications (TPWAs) are Web-based technologies that are not exclusively operated or controlled by NIA, such as applications not hosted on a .gov domain or those that are embedded on NIA Web pages. Users of TPWAs often share information with the general public, user community, and/or the third-party operating the Web site. These actors may use this information in a variety of ways. TPWAs could cause personally identifiable information (PII) to become available or accessible to NIA and the public, regardless of whether the information is explicitly solicited or collected by NIA.

The following list includes some of the TPWAs we use and their purpose. NIA sometimes collects and uses PII made available through third-party Web sites. However, we do not share PII made available through third-party Web sites. Your activity on the third-party Web sites we use is governed by the security and privacy policy of those sites, which we have linked below. You should review the third-party privacy policies before using the sites and ensure that you understand how your information may be used. If you have an account with a third-party Web site, and choose to follow, like, friend, or comment, certain PII associated with your account may be made available to NIA based on the privacy policy of the third-party Web site and your privacy settings within that third-party Web site. Therefore, you should also adjust privacy settings on your account to match your preferences.

For any NIA TPWA that collects PII, the list below also includes details on the information NIA collects and how we will protect your private information.

Third-Party Web Sites and Applications

Facebook: NIA uses Facebook to share consumer health information with the public. If you have a Facebook account and "like" the NIA page, you can post comments on posts or click on the "like" option for individual entries. If you comment or click on the "like" button, personally identifying information will be visible to the NIA staff and other Facebook site visitors. The amount of visible personal information will depend on your own Facebook privacy settings. You can avoid sharing any personally identifiable information by not creating an account, not posting comments, not sharing posts, and not clicking on the "like" options in Facebook, etc. NIA does not collect, use or disclose any information about visitors who comment or "like" these pages. Facebook collects and reports on non-personally identifiable information about activities on Facebook pages. However, as a practice, our comments moderation policy requires the removal of any comments that contain spam or are improper, inflammatory, or offensive. All posts or comments from the public will be saved as part of our records retention policy. It is saved on a password-protected, encrypted drive accessible to NIA staff and contractors who require this information to perform their duties. The Facebook privacy policy is posted on the Facebook website.

Twitter: NIA uses Twitter to send short messages or ‘Tweets’ (up to 140 characters) to share information about NIA with you and respond to your comments and inquiries sent via Twitter to NIA. While you may read the NIA Twitter feeds without subscribing to them, if you want to subscribe to (or follow) NIA Twitter feeds, you must create a Twitter account at www.twitter.com. To create an account, you must provide some personal information, such as your name, user name, password and email address. You have the option to provide additional personal information including a short biography, location or a picture. Most information you provide for a Twitter account is available to the public, but you can modify how much of your information is visible by changing your privacy settings at the Twitter.com Web site. NIA staff members monitor the number of subscribers and respond to comments and queries via Twitter, but the staff never takes possession of the personal information belonging to you as a Twitter follower. However, as a practice, comment moderator policy requires the removal from the NIA Twitter pages of any comments that contain spam or are improper, inflammatory, or offensive. The information is then saved on a password-protected shared drive accessible to NIA Managers, System Owners, Communications Staff, Web Teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. The Twitter Privacy Policy is posted on the Twitter website (link is external).

YouTube: NIA posts videos on YouTube to make them available to the public. You do not need to register with either YouTube or Google (YouTube Owner) to watch NIA YouTube videos. When you watch videos, YouTube may record non-personally identifiable information about their site usage, such as channels used, videos watched, and data transfer details to improve its services. If you log on to the YouTube site before watching NIA videos, YouTube may associate information about your site usage with your YouTube account. If you log onto YouTube and comment on an NIA video, any personal information you included on your YouTube profile page will be visible to visitors who click on the comment field. If you do not log in before watching NIA videos posted on YouTube, you cannot comment on NIA videos and your site usage will not be associated with you or a YouTube account. The YouTube Privacy Policy is posted on the Google website (link is external).

AddThis: NIA uses the AddThis service to allow you to bookmark and share NIA content on a variety of social media sites. If you use the AddThis service to share content, you do not need to register or provide any personal information. AddThis collects non-personal data, including the aggregate and summary statistics on browsers and usage patterns. AddThis also uses non-personal data to manage the service efficiently and diagnose server problems. Although AddThis offers some analytics and usage data to NIA, these reports do not include any PII. The reports are password-protected and only available to NIA Managers, System Owners, Communications Staff, Web Teams, and other designated staff who require this information to perform their duties. The AddThis Privacy Policy is posted on the AddThis website (link is external).

LinkedIn: NIA uses the "groups" feature on LinkedIn to engage with current and past grantees, employees, and members of the public. In order to join a NIA group on LinkedIn, you must register for a LinkedIn account and provide your first and last name and e-mail address. Upon confirmation of your email address, you may choose to provide LinkedIn with information regarding your employment, country, zip code, job title, etc. The amount of visible personal information will depend on your LinkedIn user privacy settings. You can completely avoid displaying any PII by not creating a LinkedIn account, not joining NIA LinkedIn groups, or not interacting with NIA LinkedIn groups in any way (i.e., joining the group, private messaging, posting on group pages, etc.). Although NIA staff managing LinkedIn groups may view the information you provide when you submit a request to join NIH LinkedIn groups, NIH staff does not collect, use, or disclose any of this information. The LinkedIn Privacy Policy is available on the LinkedIn website (link is external).

GitHub: NIA uses GitHub to share scientific resources and tools. Using scientific resources hosted on GitHub does not require registration or personally identifiable information. The GitHub Privacy policy is available on the GitHub website (link is external). 

MailChimp: NIA uses MailChimp to send email communications to people who voluntarily sign up to receive them. To subscribe, you must provide an e-mail address and indicate which subscriptions you'd like to receive. MailChimp provides NIA with non-identifying, aggregate usage statistics about the number of emails sent, received, and opened, and links within emails clicked. MailChimp password-protects the subscriber lists and aggregate usage statistics, and only designated NIA staff and contractors who manage email communications via MailChimp have access to the information. MailChimp never allows access to the subscriber lists to anyone outside of NIA for any purposes. Review the MailChimp Privacy Policy.

NIA/NIH conducts and publishes a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for each use of a third-party website as they may have a different functionality or practice. To learn more, visit the published PIAs at http://www.hhs.gov/pia/

For more information on the uses of social and new media for which the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has negotiated a federally-friendly Terms of Service Agreement, visit the HHS Center for New Media.

Questions about NIA/NIH privacy policies should be sent to the NIH Privacy Act Officer.

Security

This Web site is part of a Federal computer system used to accomplish Federal functions. Computer software programs as well as other methods are used to monitor network traffic on this Web site for security purposes. By accessing this Web site, you are expressly consenting to these monitoring activities.

Unauthorized attempts to defeat or circumvent security features; to use the system for other than intended purposes; to deny service to authorized users; to access, obtain, alter, damage, or destroy information; or to otherwise interfere with the system or its operation are strictly prohibited. Evidence of such acts may be disclosed to law enforcement authorities and may result in criminal prosecution under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996, as codified at Section 1030 of Title 18 of the United States Code, or other applicable criminal laws.

Open Data

The HHS website, https://www.healthdata.gov, makes health data available to entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy makers in the hopes of better outcomes for all.

Vulnerability Disclosure Policy

HHS is committed to ensuring the security of the American public by protecting their information from unwarranted disclosure. This policy is intended to give security researchers clear guidelines for conducting vulnerability discovery activities and to convey how to submit discovered vulnerabilities to HHS. This policy describes what systems and types of research are covered under this policy, how to send vulnerability reports, and how long HHS asks security researchers to wait before publicly disclosing vulnerabilities. Read the HHS Vulnerability Disclosure Policy.

Web Site Linking Policy

Links to Non-Federal Government Web Sites

The NIA Web site links to various other Web sites, including those that are not owned or sponsored by the U.S. Federal Government. These sites provide information and/or services not available on an official U.S. Federal Government Web site. NIA provides these links for public service only and does not imply endorsement nor does it guarantee the quality or credibility of any external organizations, services, advice, or products included on these other sites. Furthermore, the U.S. Federal Government neither controls nor guarantees the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of the content contained by these external links.

Notification

A notification page will alert a Web site visitor before he or she is redirected to a non federal government Web site. The notice page shall state:

"You are now leaving the official NIA Web site for [External URL]. NIA is not responsible for the availability or content of these external sites, nor does NIA endorse, warrant or guarantee the products, services or information described or offered at other Internet sites.”

Evaluation Criteria

(See Disclaimer of Endorsement for more information on this topic.)

The NIA evaluates all suggested links using the criteria noted below with an approval review process conducted by NIA.

Required:

The linked Web site must have one or more of the following elements:

  • The linked Web site provides official Federal Government information or services.
  • The linked Web site complements existing information, products and services on the NIA Web site.
  • The linked Web site's information appears to be accurate and current as indicated by references, and date of creation and/or revisions submitted.
  • The linked Web site is accessible and applicable to a wide audience.
  • The linked Web site is maintained by an organization or cosponsor that has a direct relationship with the NIA.
  • The linked Web site has a direct contractual relationship with the NIA for the provision of goods and/or services.
  • The linked Web site provides citizens, businesses and/or government officials with the information they need to interact directly with government organizations (e.g., clearly available telephone numbers, street addresses, e-mail addresses and instructions).
  • The linked Web site provides community-level information and services.

Links to U.S. Federal Government Web Sites

The NIA can link to any U.S. Federal Government Web site that is publicly available. Acceptable U.S. Federal Government-owned or Government-sponsored website domains include .gov, .mil and .fed.us. NIA also provides links to: quasi-government agencies and Web sites created by public sector/private sector partnerships; State and local government sites (e.g., www.maryland.gov); and some Web sites that end in .com, .org, or .net.

Disclaimer of Endorsement

The information posted on the NIA Web site includes hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and/or private organizations. The NIA provides these links and pointers solely for our users' information and convenience. When users select a link to an outside Web site, they are leaving the NIA site and are subject to the privacy limitations and policies of the owners/sponsors of that Web site.

  • The NIA does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information contained on a linked Web site.
  • The NIA does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked Web sites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
  • The NIA cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials contained in linked Web sites. Users must request such authorization from the sponsor of the linked Web site.
  • The NIA is not responsible for transmissions users receive from linked Web sites.
  • The NIA does not guarantee that outside Web sites comply with Section 508 (Accessibility Requirements) of the Rehabilitation Act.

During your visit to our Web site, your Web browser may produce pop-up advertisements. These advertisements were most likely produced by other Web sites you visited or by third party software installed on your computer. NIA, along with other agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, does not endorse or recommend products or services that may appear as pop-up advertisements on your computer screen while visiting its site.

Scheduled Review Process of Links

The links provided in the NIA Web site are reviewed on a quarterly basis at a minimum or more frequently as required by NIA management and/or relevant regulation changes, to ensure the links are still operational and still provide value to the mission of the NIA.

If there is an oversight to this review process and a user encounters a link that is no longer operational, she/he is encouraged to report this error to the NIA Webmaster as a broken link.

Linking to the NIA Web Site from Your Web Site

The National Aging Institute (NIA) encourages links to its public Web resources.

Individuals or organizations wishing to link to the NIA Web site should direct their link to www.nia.nih.gov. If a description is to be provided with the link, the following wording shall be used:

“The National Aging Institute's Web site (www.nia.nih.gov) is an institute of the NIH, a U.S. Federal Government agency that provides accurate, up-to-date information about aspects of aging research, information about clinical trials, educational materials and resources about aging for the general public, and information for researchers and health professionals.”

Links to individual pages within the NIA Web site are also permissible, using the above paragraph and any descriptive notes that accurately reflect the content of the linked page(s). These pages include www.nia.nih.gov/health/spanish and www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication.

The NIA periodically redesigns its Web site, so content may be located at different Web page addresses. Every attempt is made to ensure existing links will continue to forward a user to their requested page(s). However, it is strongly recommended that organizations review their external links frequently to ensure each link referenced is still operational.

Comments Policy

We encourage and welcome your comments on certain pages of the NIA's web site, and on our social media sites, including Facebook. In accordance with the Federal government's social media comment policies, NIA, part of the National Institutes of Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has instituted the following policy in an effort to maintain respectful interaction:

All viewpoints are welcome, but comments should remain relevant to NIA and information associated with the page in question.

Guidelines for Posted Comments

All comments will be reviewed before being posted to ensure that they adhere to the guidelines below. Comments will be deleted if they contain:

  • Commercial endorsements, spam, advertising, or promoting of products/services. This includes repeated posts of identical or very similar content in a counter-productive manner.
  • Personal attacks.
  • Partisan political views.
  • Discriminatory, racist, offensive, obscene, inflammatory, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable statements, language, or content.
  • Deliberately false or misleading information.
  • Unfair/unsubstantiated partisan political views.
  • Personally identifiable information. This refers to information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. To protect your privacy, please do not share personal information, such as your address, email, or telephone number, or health status in the text of your comment. The NIA follows the privacy guidelines of the U.S. Government.

Records of posts and comments will be kept.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in user comments reflect those of the author and do not reflect the official views of the National Institute on Aging, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or other parts of the Federal government.

Linking to a non-federal site does not constitute an endorsement by NIA, NIH, HHS, or any of its employees.

Do not submit copyrighted or other proprietary material in any form unless you clearly indicate that you have permission to do so. By posting your comments or other work, you grant NIA and anyone viewing the NIA website permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display or perform the commenter's work publicly and free-of-charge.

Your comments are welcome at any time. Comments will be reviewed/posted on weekdays except for Federal holidays.

If you want to post a comment to the NIA blog, Inside NIA, please provide your name (or nickname) and e-mail address. We will only publish your name – not your email address – along with your comment. We ask for your e-mail address so that we can contact you if necessary. E-mail addresses included in the text of the comment will be deleted.

Media

If you are a reporter, please send questions to the NIA Office of Communications and Public Liaison through standard channels rather than by submitting questions as comments.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this comment policy or the privacy policy, please contact us.

As is the case for all U.S. federal government logos, Department of Health and Human Services logos are protected by law from unauthorized use. The NIH Office of Communications and Public Liaison maintains the policy for use of NIH logos, including the NIA logo. 

Use of NIH logos can suggest or appear as an endorsement and may unintentionally imply direct NIH involvement. The NIH and NIA logos are for government use only and not for the use of the private sector, regardless of whether a grantee, vendor, or contractor is a not-for-profit entity. 

NIH logo guidance prohibits: 

  • Use of NIH/NIA logos by outside groups without, in exceedingly rare circumstances, express written permission
  • Use of the NIH/NIA name or logo in a social media handle
  • Creation of new logos for any purpose including new programs, labs, or offices 
  • Creation of “swag” (e.g., lab coats, shirts, hoodies, pens) imprinted with logos 

NIA-funded researchers and institutions must still credit NIA on their websites or other materials in text, e.g., “This research was supported by grant #### from the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health.” 

For questions about this policy, please contact niaic@nia.nih.gov. 

nia.nih.gov

An official website of the National Institutes of Health