NCAA Injury Surveillance Program
The NCAA Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) collects and analyzes injury and exposure data from NCAA schools to help improve the health and safety of student-athletes. Through participation, institutions contribute to research that informs rule changes, best practices and injury prevention strategies across college sports.
How the Injury Survellance Program Works
The Injury Surveillance Program gathers deidentified injury and participation data from NCAA schools across all divisions and sports. This information is analyzed to identify trends, support research and help guide decisions that improve student-athlete health and safety.
Athletic trainers and sports medicine staff enroll their institution in the program.
Injury and participation data are securely collected through approved electronic medical record systems.
Researchers review the data to identify injury patterns and emerging health concerns.
Findings help inform injury prevention strategies, educational resources and future research.
Participation Eligibility
All NCAA member schools are eligible to participate in the Injury Surveillance Program. Participation is voluntary and schools may contribute data for as many sports as they choose.
The NCAA encourages participating schools to submit data for two to three sports each season. Schools that sponsor less commonly represented sports may be asked to prioritize those programs to help strengthen national injury surveillance efforts. Institutions interested in contributing data for additional sports are encouraged to do so.
Participation Requirements
Participating schools submit injury and participation data through a compatible electronic medical record system. Medical staff continue to document injuries as part of their normal workflow while providing a small amount of additional information that helps researchers better understand injury causes and prevention opportunities.
For schools using compatible electronic medical record systems, participation typically requires approximately 20 additional minutes per week, per sport.
Data is transmitted directly through approved systems, allowing schools to contribute information efficiently while minimizing administrative burden.
Benefits of Participation
The Injury Surveillance Program helps identify injury and illness trends across college sports, providing evidence-based information that can improve injury prevention efforts, athletic health care delivery and risk management practices.
Participating schools receive access to information that can support medical decision-making, personnel planning and injury prevention strategies within their own athletics programs.
Data collected through the ISP contributes to scientific research, NCAA health and safety initiatives and sport rule discussions that help protect student-athletes nationwide.
Participating athletic trainers are eligible to receive 10 Category B continuing education units through their involvement in the program.
Data Privacy and Security
The NCAA Injury Surveillance Program is administered through a partnership between the NCAA Sport Science Institute and the Datalys Center, an independent nonprofit organization that manages data collection, analysis and information sharing.
All data submitted to the Injury Surveillance Program is deidentified and managed in accordance with HIPAA and FERPA requirements. Information is used to identify injury trends and improve student-athlete health and safety while protecting individual privacy.
Participating schools may request access to their own submitted data at any time. In addition, aggregate findings are regularly shared through scientific presentations, research publications and NCAA health and safety initiatives.
Training and Support
Training and support are available at no cost to participating schools. The Datalys Center works with approved vendors to provide onboarding assistance, education and ongoing support throughout the participation process.
Schools without a compatible electronic medical record system may still participate through a free web-based platform provided by the Datalys Center.
NCAA Injury Surveillance Program FAQs
Ready to Participate?
Schools interested in joining the Injury Surveillance Program can contact the Datalys Center to learn more about enrollment, system compatibility and participation requirements.
Using ISP Data for Research
The NCAA Injury Surveillance Program supports research efforts that advance student-athlete health and safety. Approved researchers may request access to deidentified injury surveillance data to study injury trends, evaluate prevention strategies and inform future health and safety initiatives across college sports.
Eligible Research Requests
Data requests are reviewed by an advisory panel and should:
- Address a defined research question
- Support scientific merit and sound methodology
- Align with NCAA health and safety priorities
- Contribute to the understanding of injury prevention and student-athlete well-being
Available Data
Researchers may request deidentified information including:
- Injury diagnoses
- Body part injured
- Exposure event types
- Sport participation information
For requests covering data from 2009 through 2019, current areas of emphasis include:
- Elbow injuries
- Noncontact injuries
- Lower extremity injuries in NCAA sports
Data Request Process
Researchers submit a preliminary proposal.
The advisory panel evaluates the request.
Approved proposals move forward to a full application.
Applications are reviewed for scientific merit and feasibility.
Approved researchers receive access to requested data.
Data Request Application FAQ
Yes.
The letter of intent should demonstrate clarity and specificity regarding the proposed project. Applicants should clearly articulate the research questions driving the request, describe how those questions will be addressed using the ISP data and outline the statistical or analytical approaches being considered to answer them. Additionally, inclusion of key analytical personnel (e.g., statistician, epidemiologist or methodologist) is encouraged when applicable.
To help guide the preparation of submissions, consider reviewing prior methodological and epidemiological publications (see below) that illustrate how ISP data have been analyzed in previous studies.
Chandran A, Moffit RE, DeJong Lempke AF, et al. Epidemiology of Lateral Ligament Complex Tears of the Ankle in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Sports: 2014-15 Through 2018-19. The American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023;51(1):169-178. doi:10.1177/03635465221138281
Chandran, A., Lambert, B. Bayesian methods for estimating injury rates in sport injury epidemiology. Inj. Epidemiol. 12, 31 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-025-00583-z
Chandran, Avinash, DiPietro, Loretta, Young, Heather and Elmi, Angelo. “Modeling time loss from sports-related injuries using random effects models: an illustration using soccer-related injury observations” Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, vol. 16, no. 3, 2020, pp. 221-235. https://doi.org/10.1515/jqas-2019-0030.
Upon the closing of the submission window, an advisory panel review will occur with the completion time dependent on the submission volume. Submission of a full application is by invitation only. All advisory panel decisions are final.
The advisory panel will once again review the full application. The panel feedback will be shared with the CSMAS Research Subcommittee. The Research Subcommittee will review the recommendations from the advisory panel. The researcher will then receive a decision letter on the outcome.
Approved projects will receive the requested data in two separate data frames: one containing injury data and the other containing exposure data. Data will be released only after the advisory panel has received documentation of Institutional Review Board approval or exemption.
Data will be released after a successfully executed data use agreement for a 12-month period. During that time, researchers will be expected to submit a progress report to the advisory panel not later than six months after data is released and before they submit a pre-publication preview. Researchers will be required to submit a pre-publication preview to the advisory panel ahead of any publication submissions, poster presentations, etc.
This page will continue to be updated with additional details regarding areas of emphasis to guide submissions and further, detailed instructions about the process.