Stakeholders in scholarly research are paying increased attention to stewardship of digital research data1 for the purposes of advancing scientific discovery, driving innovation, and promoting trust in science and scholarship. However, little is known about the total amounts, characteristics, and sustainability of data that could be used for these purposes. The Stewardship Gap is an 18-month project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to understand issues in defining metrics for and measuring the stewardship gap: the potential gap between the amount of valuable data produced through sponsored projects in the United States and the amount that is effectively stewarded and made accessible. This paper reports on the first phase of the project, which sought to develop an instrument to gather information about research data sustainability from a broad variety of researchers and research disciplines and make progress toward the ultimate goals of 1) shedding light on the size, characteristics, and sustainability of valuable sponsored research data and creative work in the United States, and 2) recommending actions stakeholders can take to address the stewardship gap if one is found to exist.

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