Data management includes all actions needed to make research data safe, discoverable, accessible and understandable in the long term. Therefor data management is all about planning, collecting, organizing, documenting, storing, processing, archiving, sharing and re-using research data. All these elements are important for the research organization and collaboration as well as from a research integrity perspective. The key element is quality assessment. How these issues are being implemented in the course of a research project is considered to be the responsibility of every researcher. However, the general research environment is a crucial condition to make this successful. Universities have to actively fulfil their duty to monitor the quality in academic settings by taking initiatives to both promote data management and to provide support for the development of ‘good research practices’.