6.3. Data management planning

Data management plans (DMPs) can be used to ensure the quality and consistency of data management throughout the data lifecycle and are required by many funders. Responsibilities for data management lie with researchers or research teams, but institutions need to offer support with many of the issues raised in DMPs.

DMPs provide a list of topics that need to be considered to achieve FAIR data management. Researchers rely on a wide range of institutional support services to meet these requirements. DMPs usually include the following topics:

• Data description and collection or reuse of existing data Existing data from institutional repositories or digital data collections at the library can be made available for reuse. Support and guidance can be provided for data creation, collection, and description.

• Documentation and data quality Having local expertise and fostering good practice at departmental level is a good way to provide guidance on the multitude of standards and approaches.

• Storage and backup (during the research project) and data sharing and long-term preservation (at the end of a research project). Researchers will require support from IT departments.

• Legal and ethical requirements and data management responsibilities and resources Ethics boards, data protection offices, IP offices, legal and financial departments need to guide researchers in safeguarding these aspects.

Coordinating this support and aiding researchers with the planning process via training and consultancy are key tasks of institutional Data Stewards. Services can also include institutional participation in tools like DMP Online or DMP OPIDoR. These web-based services provide guidance for all criteria, offer sample plans, include DMP templates from multiple funding bodies, and allow researchers to work collaboratively on their plans.

DMPs are often described as living documents and should be updated according to changing circumstances.

Learn more:

• Lesson Plan 2: DMPs

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