Research Data Management

Research data management is a general term covering how you organize, structure, store, and care for the information used or generated during a research project.  It includes:

• Planning how your data will be looked after – many funders now require data plans as part of applications
• How you deal with information on a day-to-day basis over the lifetime of a project
• What happens to data in the longer term – what you do with it after the project concludes

Source: "About data management" by the University of Oxford.

The library can help you:

• Find existing research data
• Understand the data management requirements of different funding agencies
• Create a data management plan
• Choose an appropriate repository for your data
• Understand best practices for disseminating and archiving your data

The draft Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management, as well as CIHR and SSHRC policies for research data management are included below. For information on other funding agencies, please contact your subject librarian.

A note on the Tri-Agency's Research Data Management Policy:

In 2016, the Tri-Agencies (CIHR, NSERC & SSHRC) announced that all institutions receiving funding would be required to have an institutional strategy and each funded project would need to have a data management plan.

After a consultation with stakeholders and research institutions, in March 2021 they released their policy.  There are 3 key parts to the policy:

1. Institutional strategy - all institutions eligible for Tri-Agencies funding must provide the Tri-Agencies with and have a published institutional strategy by March 1, 2023.
2. Data management plans - by Spring 2022 selected calls for proposals will have a data management plan requirement and DMPs will be considered in the adjudication process.
3. Data deposit - grant recipients will be required to deposit into a digital repository all digital research data, metadata and code that directly support the research conclusions that arise from agency-supported research.

At its core, RDM is viewed by funding agencies as a mechanism to enhance research excellence. It is important to note the data deposit requirement does not mean the data needs to be open access.

This guide was created by Durham College Libraries and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License, except where otherwise noted.