What is a data management plan and why is it important?

A data management plan is a document that describes what data will be created during a research project; how it will be created; procedures for ensuring consistency and data quality; what software and formats will be used; how and where the data will be shared; and who is responsible for creating, managing, storing and sharing the data.

Writing a data management plan (DMP) at the outset of a research project allows researchers to:

• make informed decisions to anticipate and avoid problems
• avoid duplication, data loss and security breaches
• develop procedures early on for consistency
• ensure data are accurate, complete, reliable and secure

What does a data management plan include?

1. Information about data and data format
2. Metadata content and format
3. Policies for access, sharing, and re-use
4. Long-term storage and data management
5. Roles and responsibilities
6. Budget

How do you create a data management plan?

• Writing your Data Management and Sharing Plan at UB
• DMPTool - UB is now a partner institution on this template-based platform, hosted by the University of California Curation Center (new window) of the California Digital Library. You can log in with your UBITName to write and store your data management plans, as well as view and use templates for each funder.
  • NOTE: This tool is for creating and managing your data management plans at the grant proposal stage, not for storing your research data or publications. The UB Institutional Repository is the platform for storing  publications resulting from your research. For information on storing and sharing your data, click on the tabs above.
• Checklist for a Data Management Plan (DCC) - This checklist (v4.0 updated in 2014) was created by the Digital Curation Centre in Edinburgh. It provides an overview of the questions to consider when writing a data management plan, especially for compliance with U.K. and E.U. funders.

SPARC: Browse Data Sharing Requirements by Federal Agency

In addition to requirements for a data management plan, a February 2013 White House policy directive mandated the public release of research data (open data) for nearly all research funded by the federal government. Since 2013, the agencies have been working on issuing mandatory open data compliance policies.

SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), together with Johns Hopkins University, hosts this community resource for tracking, comparing and understanding U.S. federal funder research data sharing policies.