Data Management Planning

Some funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and National Endowment for the Humanities, among many others, require that grant applications include a data management plan (DMP). The library can provide support and advice on standards for metadata, storage repositories, and other data management issues.

Elements of a data management plan

Generally, DMPs include a description of the data that will be generated by your research and a plan for storing and providing access to the data. While the specific details of a DMP may vary depending on the funding agency and/or nature of the research involved, a typical DMP will outline:

1. The types of data that will be produced over the life of the project
2. How your data will be managed and maintained (e.g. data formats, metadata standards to be used, etc.)
3. How the data will be stored and shared (including legal and ethical considerations relating to privacy and confidentiality)
4. Policies for the reuse of the data by others
5. Approaches for long-term preservation/archiving of the data produced

These are some of the major grant funding agencies and their associated data management plan guidelines, but please keep in mind this list is not meant to be exhaustive:

• National Science Foundation (Note: NSF guidelines can vary by discipline)
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• National Institutes of Health
• US Geological Survey

Additional resources on writing a data management plan

• Data Management Planning Tool from the California Digital Library
• DMPOnline from the Digital Curation Centre
• ICPSR Guidelines for Effective Data Management Plans from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
• Write a data management plan from MIT
• Data management and sharing FAQs from NSF

Additional resources for selecting a data digital repository

• PLOS recommended repositories
  List of repositories that are recognized and trusted within their respective communities.
• Registry of research data repositories (re3data.org)
  Global registry of research data repositories for different academic disciplines.

For more information

For additional information about how the library can support your data management plan, contact Nora Zimmerman, Digital Repository Librarian.