Scholarly Communication Support: Planning, Conducting, Disseminating, Promoting, & Assessing Research

If your research involves data collection, you should have a plan for how you will collect, store, describe, and share your data.

DMPTool

DMPTool is a free tool from University of California to help researchers create, review, and share data management plans that meet requirements from institutions and funding agencies such as NIH, NSF, DOD, DOJ, etc. DMPTool includes templates and guidance.

Example DMPs

Specific funders (especially federal agencies) will require that you include a DMP in your application, and some will require that your DMP explicitly address data sharing. What will be required of you? These tools can help you determine that according to funder.

All new funding requests submitted to NIH on or after Jan 25, 2023, are required to include a Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMSP).

• 2-page (maximum) document accompanying funding application
• Describes the data and documentation types to be created; related tools, software, and code; related standards; data preservation and access timelines; access, distribution, or reuse considerations [restrictions/limitations]; and oversight of data management and sharing

NIH has stated that a primary goal for the new policy is cultural change, aimed at challenging researchers to develop their projects from the start with the goal of data sharing in mind.

Researchers are expected to share the results of their NIH-funded studies throughout the life of the project in order to

• maximize research outcomes (taxpayer dollars)
• while supporting research rigor & reproducibility

Data Repositories: General Guidelines

• Encourages use of existing, quality repositories
• Choose a domain-specific repository whenever possible
• Generalist repositories can fill the gap when needed
• Don't share the same data in multiple repositories

Desirable Characteristics of a Repository

• Unique Persistent Identifiers (e.g., DOI, HANDLE, PURL)
• Long-Term Sustainability
• Metadata
• Curation and Quality Assurance
• Free and Easy Access (i.e., free for use, not necessarily for deposit)
• Broad and Measured Reuse
• Clear Use Guidance
• Security and Integrity
• Confidentiality
• Common Format
• Provenance
• Retention Policy