Developing a Data Management Plan
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This document provides an overview of developing a data management plan. It discusses the Digital Curation Centre and the speaker's involvement with DMPs. A DMP is a plan for managing research data throughout the data lifecycle that addresses issues like data capture, documentation, access, storage, backup, and long-term preservation. Developing a DMP ensures good data practices and maximizes data reuse. It also benefits research by making the process more efficient, data more accessible and transparent, and findings more impactful. A DMP typically involves researchers, institutions, partners and other stakeholders. Funders like the European Union also have specific DMP requirements for projects seeking funding.
Developing a Data Management Plan
- 1. Developing a Data Management Plan Martin Donnelly Digital Curation Centre University of Edinburgh AgreenSkills Annual Seminar Paris, 15 February 2017
- 2. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 3. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 4. The Digital Curation Centre (DCC) • The UK’s national centre of expertise in digital preservation and data management, est. 2004 • Principal audience is the UK higher education sector, but we increasingly work further afield (continental Europe, North America, South Africa, Asia…) • Provide guidance, training, tools (e.g. DMPonline) and other services on all aspects of research data management and Open Science • Now offering tailored consultancy/training • Organise national and international events and webinars (International Digital Curation Conference, Research Data Management Forum)
- 5. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 6. Background • Checklist for a Data Management Plan (v1, 2009) • A generic list of issues that a DMP could or should cover, derived from UK funder requirements • DMPonline (2010-present) • A wizard-style, Web-based tool to help researchers and other related professionals to produce and maintain DMPs according to funder or institutional policies • Book Chapter (2011) • “Data Management Plans and Planning” in Pryor G (ed.) Managing Research Data (New York, Facet) • DMPTool (2011-present) • Helped bring the US DMPTool consortium together, and provided advice as they were starting up • EC Reviews (2016-17) • In summer 2016, I was one of two expert reviewers for first iteration Horizon 2020 data management plans, and I’m doing it again for the next batch in February/March 2017
- 7. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 8. Recap: what is RDM? “the active management and appraisal of data over the lifecycle of scholarly and scientific interest” What sorts of activities? - Planning and describing data- related work before it takes place - Documenting your data so that others can find and understand it - Storing it safely during the project - Depositing it in a trusted archive at the end of the project - Linking publications to the datasets that underpin them
- 9. The benefits of Openness • SPEED: The research process becomes faster • EFFICIENCY: Data collection can be funded once, and used many times for a variety of purposes • ACCESSIBILITY: Interested third parties can (where appropriate) access and build upon publicly-funded research resources with minimal barriers to access • IMPACT and LONGEVITY: Open publications and data receive more citations, over longer periods • TRANSPARENCY and QUALITY: The evidence that underpins research can be made open for anyone to scrutinise, and attempt to replicate findings. This leads to a more robust scholarly record
- 10. Data Management Plans and Planning • Data management planning (DMP) underpins and pulls together different strands of RDM activities, often across multiple project partners • DMP is the process of planning, describing and communicating activities carried out during the research lifecycle in order to… • Keep sensitive data safe • Maximise data’s reuse potential • Support longer-term preservation • A data management plan is usually a short document detailing specifics of the data that will be created during a research project, together with information on how it can be accessed and utilised • Research funders often ask for DMPs to be submitted alongside grant applications and/or developed over the course of the research project. (HEIs are increasingly asking their researchers to do this too…)
- 11. Benefits of data management planning • It is intuitive that planned activities stand a better chance of meeting their goals than unplanned ones. The process of planning is also a process of communication, increasingly important in interdisciplinary/multi-partner research. Collaboration will be more harmonious if project partners (in industry, other universities, other countries…) are on the same page • In terms of data security, if there are good reasons not to publish/share data, in whole or in part, you will be on more solid ground if you flag these up early in the process • DMP also provides an ideal opportunity to engender good practice with regard to (e.g.) file formats, metadata standards, storage and risk management practices, leading to greater longevity of data, and improved quality standards…
- 12. Limits of data management planning What can a plan not do? It can’t do the work for you. The map is not the territory (Korzybski) or Chalk’s no shears (Scottish saying) It is important to remember that the human challenges in data management are often more difficult to meet than the technological ones. So communication is vital, especially in international, multi-partner research!
- 13. What does a data management plan look like? • It is usually a couple of pages outlining: ü how data will be captured/created ü how it will be documented ü who will be able to access it ü where it will be stored ü how it will be backed up, and ü whether (and how) it will be shared and preserved long-term ü etc • DMPs are often submitted as part of funding applications – and requirements vary from funder to funder – but they are useful whenever researchers are creating (or reusing) data, especially where the research involves multiple partners, countries, etc…
- 14. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 15. Roles and responsibilities Like RDM in general, data management planning is a hybrid activity, involving multiple stakeholder groups… • The principal investigator (usually ultimately responsible for data) • Research assistants (may be more involved in day-to-day data management) • The institution’s funding office (may have a compliance role) • Library/IT/Legal (The library may issue PIDs, or liaise with an external service who do this, e.g. DataCite.) • Partners based in other institutions • Commercial partners • Etc Other stakeholders in the modern research process include governments, public services, and the general public (who fund lots of research via their taxes)
- 16. Caveat! • It’s not necessary – or even desirable – for every researcher (or research administrator, or librarian, or IT person…) to become an expert in every aspect of data management • Useful expertise may already exist within the research office, library, IT, departmental support staff, legal services etc, as well as academic colleagues well versed in data management • The trick is to harness this and to make it appear seamless. Communication and coordination (or at least the appearance of…) is increasingly important
- 17. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 18. European policy • Currently in the midst of an extended pilot for Horizon 2020. Other projects can participate voluntarily, and opting in has been more popular than opting out • Applies as minimum to research data underlying publications, plus any other data as decided by project • Participants must: • Write a DMP as a project deliverable • Deposit data in a repository • Make it possible for others to access, mine, exploit and reuse the data • Share information on the tools needed …unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. And these reasons should be recorded… in the DMP. • Approach: “As open as possible, as closed as necessary”
- 19. Horizon 2020 – extended pilot (i) As part of making research data findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable (FAIR), a DMP should include information on: • the handling of research data during and after the end of the project • what data will be collected, processed and/or generated • which methodology and standards will be applied • whether data will be shared/made open access and • how data will be curated and preserved (including after the end of the project) http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf
- 20. Horizon 2020 – extended pilot (ii) • Once a project has had its funding approved and has started, you must submit a first version of your DMP (as a deliverable) within the first 6 months of the project • The Commission provides a DMP template, the use of which is recommended but voluntary • The DMP needs to be updated over the course of the project whenever significant changes arise, such as (but not limited to): • new data • changes in consortium policies (e.g. new innovation potential, decision to file • for a patent) • changes in consortium composition and external factors (e.g. new consortium • members joining or old members leaving). • The DMP should be updated as a minimum in time with the periodic evaluation/assessment of the project. If there are no other periodic reviews foreseen within the grant agreement, then such an update needs to be made in time for the final review at the latest. Furthermore, the consortium can define a timetable for review in the DMP itself http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf
- 21. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 22. DCC resources • Guidance, e.g. “How-To Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan” • DCC Checklist for a Data Management Plan: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data- management-plans/checklist • DMPonline tool: https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/ • Links to all DCC DMP resources via http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data- management-plans
- 23. • Helps researchers write DMPs • Provides funder questions and guidance • Includes a template DMP for Horizon 2020 • Provides help from universities • Examples and suggested answers • Free to use • Mature (v1 launched April 2010) • Code is Open Source (on GitHub) https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk DMPonline: overview
- 31. Institutions can customise the tool by… • Adding templates • Adding custom guidance • Providing example or suggested answers • Monitoring usage within their organisation • Offering non-English language versions www.dcc.ac.uk/news/customising-dmponline-admin- interface-launches
- 33. And finally, some sample plans • There are lots of data management plans available on the Web. The DCC provides links to a number of sample DMPs via http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/data-management- plans/guidance-examples • The US National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) recently released over 100 of its DMPs. These are available via: http://www.neh.gov/divisions/odh/grant-news/data- management-plans-successful-grant-applications-2011- 2014-now-available
- 34. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 35. Nota bene! • DMP is above all a communication activity, between the data collectors and their contemporaries (project partners and funders) and with future data re-users… • Remember that there is no magic bullet, and no one- size-fits-all solution! • Much of the benefit of data management planning lies in the process of planning, above and beyond the plans produced at the end of the process • A DMP should be a living document. Research seldom goes entirely according to plan, and plans should be updated to reflect the reality of the research, not the other way around!
- 36. Contents 1. About the DCC 2. My involvement with DMPs 3. DMP: what and why? 4. Who’s involved in the DMP process? 5. DMP specifics in H2020 6. Useful resources 7. A few things to note/remember 8. Contacts and opportunity for questions
- 37. Thank you: any questions? • For more information about the DCC: • Website: www.dcc.ac.uk • Director: Kevin Ashley ([email protected]) • General enquiries: Alex Delipalta ([email protected]) • Twitter: @digitalcuration • My contact details: • Email: [email protected] • Twitter: @mkdDCC • Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/martindonn elly This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 UK: Scotland License.