We have re-analyzed the world data on inclusive polarized DIS including the very precise CLAS proton and deuteron data, as well as the latest COMPASS data on the asymmetry A d 1 , and have studied the impact of these data on polarized parton densities and higher twist effects. We demonstrate that the low Q 2 CLAS data improve essentially our knowledge of higher twist corrections to the spin structure function g1, while the large Q 2 COMPASS data influence mainly the strange quark density. In our new analysis we find that a negative polarized gluon density, or one that changes sign as a function of x, cannot be ruled out on the basis of the present DIS data.