In physical security and information security, access control (AC) is the action of deciding whether a subject should be granted or denied access to an object (for example, a place or a resource). Source: Wikipedia

A federal act that governs the procedures of administrative law, including notice and comment related to formal and informal rulemaking. Source: Cornell Legal Information Institute

The process of permanently and irreversibly transforming data so that it cannot be linked to any specific individual. Source: NIST.gov

A predefined protocol for reading and/or writing data using a filesystem, a database, or across a network. Source: Data.gov

Data that is available for download in its entirety, allowing users to efficiently retrieve the complete dataset. Source: Open Data Handbook

An agency that produces economic accounts statistics, including the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Source: BEA.gov

The principal statistical agency of the Department of Justice, providing information on crime and the justice system. Source: BJS.gov

The principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes. Source: BLS.gov

The principal statistical agency of the Department of Transportation providing transportation statistics for the nation and its various regions and sectors. Source: BTS.gov

A cross-agency council that coordinates data management policy and establishes government-wide best practices for data use. Source: CDO.gov

An open-source data portal platform used to store, manage, and distribute data assets, powering Data.gov. Source: CKAN.org

The principal statistical agency responsible for the decennial census and producing data about the American people and economy. Source: Census.gov

An agency official responsible for data management, governance, and implementing the Evidence Act at a federal agency. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3520

A common file format for storing tabular data in plain text, where each row is a record and columns are separated by commas. Source: Open Data Handbook

An inventory of all data assets held by a federal agency, typically stored in a JSON format. An agency comprehensive inventory is usually the source of data used by Data.gov harvesters to populate the Federal Data Catalog. Source: M-25-05 and 44 U.S.C. § 3502

Title III of the Evidence Act providing legal protections for confidential information collected by federal agencies for statistical purposes. Source: Congress.gov

Information that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls pursuant to and consistent with law, regulations, and government-wide policies that is no classified. Source: Archives.gov

The metadata schema used for the Federal Data Catalog, based on the W3C Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT). Source: Resources.data.gov

A collection of data elements or data sets that may be grouped together. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3502

An vocabulary designed to facilitate interoperability between data catalogs published on the Web. Source: Data.gov

The process whereby data is removed from active files and storage structures and rendered inaccessible except through specialized data recovery tools. Source: Society of American Archivists Glossary

A data dictionary is a document that outlines the structure, content, and variable definitions for a dataset or collection of data. A data dictionary is a critical tool for reproducibility because it allows others to understand your data. Source: Harvard

Data governance is the set of principles, policies, and processes that guide the effective and responsible use of data within an organization. Source: Wikipedia

The maintenance of, and the assurance of, data accuracy and consistency over its entire life-cycle. Source: Wikipedia

A list of data assets and their metadata maintained by an agency to track the information it collects and produces. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3511

A document describing how data will be managed, stored, protected, and shared throughout the lifecycle of a research project. Source: NIH

The fitness for use of data, often measured by its accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, and validity. Source: FCSM

A technical specification that describes how data should be stored or exchanged for consistent collection and interoperability. Source: Data.gov

The federal government’s federal data catalog indexing public data assets from across all agencies. Source: Data.gov

The process of removing or masking identifying information from a dataset so that the individuals cannot be readily identified. Source: NIST.gov

A mathematical framework for sharing information about a dataset while providing strong, quantifiable privacy guarantees for individuals. Source: Census.gov

The termination of an Information Collection Request (ICR), ending the legal authority for an agency to gather specific data from the public under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Source: Digital.gov

One of two principal statistical agencies of the Department of Agriculture that provides economic and social statistical data and analysis for agriculture, food, and the environment. Source: USDA.gov

The principal statistical agency of the Department of Energy responsible for collecting and analyzing independent energy information to promote sound policymaking. Source: EIA.gov

An official designated to coordinate evidence-building activities and provide leadership over an agency’s evaluation functions. Source: 5 U.S.C. § 313

Information produced as a result of statistical activities conducted for a statistical purpose, used to inform policymaking. Source: DOL.gov

Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles aim to improve data use and reuse. Source: Go-FAIR.org

An interagency committee dedicated to improving the quality of Federal statistics. Source: StatsPolicy.gov

The metadata schema used for the Federal Data Catalog, based on the W3C Data Catalog Vocabulary (DCAT). Source: M-25-05 and 44 U.S.C. § 3502

A framework for a consistent approach to federal data stewardship, use, and dissemination across the Executive Branch. Source: CIO.gov

A law that requires federal agencies to implement information security programs to protect their data and systems. Source: CISA.gov

A network of 34 data centers across the United States working as a partnership between federal statistical agencies and research institutions that provides secure environments for authorized researchers to access confidential statistical data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The decentralized network of federal agencies that produce official statistics to inform the public and policy makers. Source: StatsPolicy.gov

A 2018 law (Pub. L. 115–435) that requires federal agencies to modernize data management, increase data availability, and develop evidence to support policymaking. Source: Congress.gov

A law that provides the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency, subject to certain exemptions. Source: FOIA.gov

A federal data product by the USITC that provides the applicable tariff rates and statistical categories for all merchandise imported into the United States; it is based on the international Harmonized System, the global system of nomenclature that is used to describe most world trade in goods. Source: usitc.gov

An American political science and social science research consortium, based at the University of Michigan, ICPSR maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction (over 16,000 discrete studies/surveys with more than 70,000 datasets). Source: Wikipedia

A council chaired by the U.S. Chief Statistician that coordinates the federal statistical system and sets government-wide best practices for data. Source: StatsPolicy.gov

A lightweight, text-based, language-independent data interchange format that is easy for humans to read and machines to parse. Source: Wikipedia

A multi-year plan (Agency Evidence-Building Plan) that identifies priority policy questions and the data/methods needed to answer them. Source: Evaluation.gov

The phenomenon of hyperlinks tending over time to cease to point to their originally targeted file, web page, or server due to that resource being relocated to a new address or becoming permanently unavailable. Source: Wikipedia

A format that can be easily processed by a computer without human intervention while ensuring no semantic meaning is lost. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3502

Data that defines and describes the characteristics of other data. Source: Wikipedia

One of two principal statistical agencies of the Department of Agriculture responsible for providing timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. Source: USDA.gov

The principal statistical agency of the Department of Education, housed within the Institute of Education Sciences, collecting and analyzing statistical data related to education in the United States. Source: NCES.ed.gov

The nation’s principal health statistics agency, providing data to guide actions and policies to improve American health. Source: CDC.gov

The principal statistical agency of the National Science Foundation, providing statistics regarding the U.S. science and engineering, and research and development enterprise. Source: NSF.gov

OMB policy titled ‘Managing Information as a Strategic Resource’ which establishes general policy for information governance, data sharing, and privacy. Source: CIO.gov

Title II of the Evidence Act which requires federal agencies to publish information online as open data using standardized, machine-readable formats. Source: Congress.gov

A statutory component of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that reviews federal regulations and oversees the implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. Source: National Archives:

The principal statistical agency of the Social Security Administration responsible for statistical data on social security programs and the beneficiaries they serve. Source: SSA.gov

A mandatory annual plan describing an agency’s progress in making its public data assets available as open data. Source: GSA.gov and M-25-05

A file format for storing digital data, defined by an openly published specification usually maintained by a standards organization, and which can be used and implemented by anyone. Source: Wikipedia

A public data asset that is machine-readable, available in an open format, based on an open standard, and not encumbered by restrictions that impede use. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3502

A legal guarantee that a data asset is made available at no cost and with no restrictions on copying, publishing, distributing, transmitting, citing, or adapting such asset. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3502

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Source: Wikipedia

A law governing how federal agencies collect information from the public. Source: Digital.gov

Information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, either alone or when combined with other information. Source: NIH Privacy Glossary

A site-specific population-based surveillance system designed to identify groups of women and infants at high risk for health problems, to monitor changes in health status, and to measure progress towards goals in improving the health of mothers and infants. Source: cdc.gov

A law that establishes a code of fair information practices governing the collection, use, and dissemination of information about individuals. Source: Justice Department Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties

An analysis of how information is handled to ensure compliance with privacy requirements and evaluate risks to PII. Source: OMB Circular A-130

A disruption in federal data availability where proactive disclosure or dissemination is halted, often resulting in datasets or tools being withdrawn from public-facing portals like Data.gov. Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report R48889

A data asset maintained by the Federal Government that has been, or may be, released to the public. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3502 and M-25-05

Reproducible research is work that can be independently recreated from the same data and the same code that the original team used. Source: The Turing Way

A data model or database structure that defines the relationships between different pieces of information. Source: Resources.data.gov

The centralized portal and process required by the Evidence Act for researchers to apply for access to confidential statistical data from federal statistical agencies, often through an FSRDC. Source: ResearchDataGov

A designated agency official with expertise in statistics who advises on statistical policy, techniques, and procedures. Source: 5 U.S.C. § 314

The description, estimation, or analysis of the characteristics of groups without identifying the individuals or organizations in those groups. Source: 44 U.S.C. § 3561

The principal statistical agency of the Internal Review Service that compiles and publishes statistcal data on the operation of the U.S. tax system. Source: IRS.gov

Information that is generated by a computer model that mimics the statistical properties of a real-world dataset but contains no real records. Source: Census.gov

A public notice required by the Privacy Act that informs the public of the existence and character of a system of records. Source: GSA

The USAID is a de jure agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government that, until its effective shuttering by the Trump Administration in 2025, served as the world’s largest funder of direct foreign assistance. Source: Wikipedia

A position within OMB responsible for coordinating the federal statistical system, US official international statistical activities, and setting government-wide statistical standards. Source: StatsPolicy.gov

The USITC is an independent, nonpartisan, quasi-judicial federal agency that fulfills a range of trade-related mandates. The agency provides high-quality, leading-edge analysis of international trade issues to the President and the Congress. The USITC produces the HTUS dataset. Source: usitc.gov

A set of standardized terms with consistent semantic definitions, typically constrained to a particular namespace or domain. Source: Resources.data.gov

A digital archive of the World Wide Web provided by the Internet Archive that captures and preserves snapshots of websites to prevent the loss of information when pages are changed or removed. Source: Internet Archive

A markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable. Source: W3C