Introduction	to	data	
management	planning	
Joy	Davidson
Digital	Curation	Centre
Acknowledgements:	content	contributed	by	
Sarah	Jones,	Jonathan	Rans	 Funded by:
Definition	of	research	data
‘Research	data’	refers	to	information,	in	particular	facts	or	
numbers,	collected	to	be	examined	and	considered	as	a	basis	for	
reasoning,	discussion	or	calculation.
In	a	research	context,	examples	of	data	include	statistics,	results	
of	experiments,	measurements,	observations	resulting	from	
fieldwork,	survey	results,	interview	recordings	and	images.	The	
focus	is	on	research	data	that	is	available	in	digital	form.
Guidelines	on	Open	Access	to	Scientific	Publications	and	Research	Data	in	Horizon	2020											
v.1.0,	11	December	2013,	Footnote	5,	p3
How	does	research	data	fit	in	with	the	
theme	of	open	science?
“science	carried	out	and	communicated	in	a	manner	which	
allows	others	to	contribute,	collaborate	and	add	to	the	
research	effort,	with	all	kinds	of	data,	results	and	protocols	
made	freely	available	at	different	stages	of	the	research	
process.”
Research	 Information	Network,	Open	Science	case	studies
www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/data-management-and-curation/
open-science-case-studies
Levels	of	open	data
⭐ make	your	stuff	available	on	the	Web	(whatever format)	under	an	open	 licence
⭐⭐ make	it	available	as	structured	data	(e.g.	Excel	instead	of	a	scan	of	a	table)
⭐⭐⭐ use	non-proprietary	 formats	(e.g.	CSV	insteadof	Excel)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ use	URIs	to	denote	things,	so	that	people	can	point	at	your	 stuff
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ link	your	data	to	other	data	to	provide	context
Tim Berners-Lee’s proposal for five star open data - http://5stardata.info
“Open data and content can be freely used, mod
ified and shared by anyone for any purpose”
http://opendefinition.org
How	does	research	data	management	fit	
into	the	picture?
Create
Document
Use
Store
Share
Preserve
• Data	Management	Planning
• Creating	data	
• Documenting	data
• Accessing	/	using	data
• Storage	and	backup
• Selecting	what	to	keep
• Sharing	data
• Data	licensing	and	citation
• Preserving	data
Create
Document
Use
Store
Share
Preserve
Create
Document
Use
Store
Share
Preserve
Funders have	expectations	about	data	
sharing…
“The	European	Commission’s	vision	is	
that	information	already	paid	for	by	the	
public	purse	should	not	be	paid	for	again	
each	time	it	is	accessed	or	used,	and	that	
it	should	benefit	European	companies	
and	citizens	to	the	full.”
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/	ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi
/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-guide_en.pdf
Data management plans requested for those 
participating in Open Data pilot. 
“Data	sets	are	
becoming	the	new	
instruments	of	
science”
Dan	Atkins,	University	of	Michigan
…but	RDM	is	part	of	good	research	practice!
DMPs	can	help
Projects	participating	in	the	pilot	will	be	required	
to	develop	a	Data	Management	plan	(DMP),	in	
which	they	will	specify	what	data	will	be	open.
Note that the Commission does NOT require applicants to  sub
mit a DMP at the proposal stage.
A DMP is therefore NOT part of the evaluation.  
DMPs are a deliverable for those participating in the pilot.
What	aspects	of	RDM	should	be in	a	DMP?
§ What data will be created (format, types, volume...)
§ Standards and methodologies to be used (incl. metadata)
§ How ethics and Intellectual Property will be addressed
§ Plans for data sharing and access 
§ Strategy for long-term preservation Create
Document
Use
Store
Share
Preserve
A DMP is a plan to share!
How	will	you	name	your	files?
• Keep	it	simple!	
• Agree	methods	with	partners	
• Include	dates	
• Avoid	non-alphanumeric	characters	
• Use	hyphens	or	underscores	not	spaces	e.g.	day-sheet,	day_sheet
• Order	the	elements	 logically	
Example from ARM Climate 
Research Facility www.arm.g
ov/data/docs/plan
www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/choosing-a-file-name
What	is	metadata?
What	is	the	difference?
• Metadata	
– Standardised
– Structured
– Machine	and	
human	
readable Metadata
Documentation
How	should	you	describe	your	data?	
http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/metadata-standards
What	is	the	minimum	required?
• DataCite metadata	used	by	OpenAIRE
• Citation/disambiguation
– Identifier	e.g.	DOI
– Creator
– Title
– Publisher
– Publication	Year
• Licencing/access	conditions
Where	will	you	store	the	data	during	your	
research?
• Your	own	laptop
• University	systems
• Cloud	storage
• Combination
Your decision will be based on how sensitive your data are, how       
robust you need the storage to be, who needs access to the data,    
and when they need access to the data!
Which	data	must	be	kept?
• Data,	including	associated	metadata,	needed	to	validate	the	
results	in	scientific	publications
• Other	curated	and/or	raw	data,	including	associated	
metadata,	as	specified	in	the	DMP
Doesn’t apply to all data (researchers to define as appropriate)
Don’t have to share data if inappropriate  – exemptions apply
Exemptions	– reasons	for	opting	
out
• If	results	are	expected	to	be	commercially	or	industrially	exploited
• If	participation	 is	incompatible	with	the	need	 for	confidentiality	 in	connection	with	
security	issues
• Incompatible	with	existing	rules	on	the	protection	of	personal	data
• Would	 jeopardise	 the	achievement	of	the	main	aim	of	the	action
• If	the	project	will	not	generate	/	collect	any	research	data
•
• If	there	are	other	legitimate	reasons	to	not	take	part	in	the	Pilot
Can	opt	out	at	proposal	stage	OR	during	lifetime	of	project	
Should	describe	issues	in	the	project	Data	Management	Plan
Which additional data	might	be	kept	after	
the	project	ends?
Five	steps	to	follow
① Could this	data	be	re-used
② Must it	be	kept	as	evidence	or	for	legal	reasons
③ Should	it	be	kept	for	its	potential	value	
④ Consider	costs	– do	benefits	outweigh	cost?
⑤ Evaluate	criteria	to	decide	what	to	keep
5	steps	to	decide	what	data	to	keep
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/five-steps-decide-what-data-keep
Assign	persistent	identifiers
• They	are	an	alphanumeric	code	identifying	a	
resource,	organisation	or	individual
• They	must	be
– Unique
– Persistent
• Ideally	they	should	be	actionable	too
https://ssi-dev.epcc.ed.ac.uk/
Remember	to	consider	
physical		data,	software	
and		models
http://spatialinformationdesignlab.org/proje
ct_sites/library/catalog.html
http://www.ukcrcexpmed.org.uk/Coventry_Warwick_CRF/Publish
ingImages/Tissue%20Bank%201.jpg
Can	your	data	be	shared	with	others?	
• PI/researcher
• Data	repository	and	support	staff
• Research	participants
• Commercial	partners
• Secondary	data	user	
How	will	it	be	shared?
http://service.re3data.org/search
Zenodo
• Joint effort by OpenAIRE-CERN
• Multidisciplinary repository
• Multiple data types
• Citable data (DOI)
• Links funding, publications, data 
& software
www.zenodo.org
• Does your publisher or funder suggest a repository?
• Are there data centres or community databases for your discipline?
• Does your university offer support for long-term preservation?
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/license-research-data
Licensing research data 
This DCC guide outlines the pros and cons 
of each approach and gives practical advi
ce on how to implement your licence
CREATIVE COMMONS LIMITATIONS
NC Non-Commercial
What counts as commercial?
ND No Derivatives
Severely restricts use
These clauses are not open licenses
Horizon 2020 Open Access 
guidelines point to:
or 
EUDAT	licensing	tool
Answer	questions	to	determine	which	licence(s)	
are	appropriate	to	use
http://ufal.github.io/lindat-license-selector
Options	for	open	data
• Domain	repository
• General	repository	– Figshare,	Zenodo,	Dryad
• Institutional	repository
• Journal	supplementary	material
• Departmental	web	page
Ø General	directories
Re3data.org
Ø Domain	specific	directories
e.g.	life	sciences	– Biosharing.org
Ø Data	journal	recommendations
Edinburgh	 research	data	blog:	Sources	of	dataset	peer	review
Ø Funding	body	recommendations
E.g.	Wellcome	Trust	Data	repositories	 and	database	sources
Finding	external	repositories
Go
Considerations
• There	may	be	an	accepted	repository	used	by	
peers	or	required	by	funders
• Multidisciplinary	studies	may	not	have	an	
obvious	home
• Data	types	and	volumes	will	impact	on	decision
How	will	you	make	your	data	discoverable?
http://ckan.data.alpha.jisc.ac.uk/datasethttps://www.researchfish.com/
http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/
http://researchdata.gla.ac.uk/
Options	for	closed	data
• Institutional	data	archive/vault
• Safe	havens	– (e.g.	secure	patient	data)
• 3rd party	data	archiving
• Cloud	storage
• Institutional	servers	– the	‘do	nothing’	option
Approach:	
as	open	as	possible,	
as	closed	as	
necessary
Image: ‘Balancing rocks’ by Viewminder CC-BY-SA
-ND www.flickr.com/photos/light_seeker/778085722
4
Refer	to		free	guides	and	briefing	papers
www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/
Guidelines	from	the	Commission
• Factsheet	on	Open	Access
– https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/sites/horizon2020/files/FactSheet_Ope
n_Access.pdf
• Guidelines	on	Open	Access	to	Scientific	Publications	and	
Research	Data	in	Horizon	2020
– http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_
pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-guide_en.pdf
• Guidelines	on	Data	Management	in	Horizon	2020
– http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_
pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf
https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk
Make	use	of	free	tools
What	is	DMPonline?
• A	web-based	tool	to	help	researchers	write	
Data	Management	and	Sharing	Plans
• Includes	requirements	and	guidance	from	
funders,	universities	and	other	groups
• Developed	by	the	Digital	Curation	Centre
• More	visible	research	outputs	and	increased	
impact - even	for	negative	results
• Easier	outputs	reporting	
• Better	and	more	reproducible	research!
Good	RDM	helps	you	comply	with	mandates	
but	also	leads	to…
Thanks	for	listening!
joy.davidson@glasgow.ac.uk	
www.dcc.ac.uk
Follow	us	on	twitter:
@jd162a	
@digitalcuration	and	#ukdcc