LibGuides: Data Services: Data Management Planning

Data Intro

What is a Data
Management Plan?

Best Practices

Library Support

Data Policies

Data Management Nightmare

Useful Resources

What do we mean by "Data"?

A reinterpretable representation of information in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. Examples of data include a sequence of bits, a table of numbers, the characters on a page, the recording of sounds made by a person speaking, or a moon rock specimen.
CCSDS Secretariat. (2012). Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS). Retrieved from https://public.ccsds.org/pubs/650x0m2.pdf

It Takes a Whole Library to Create a World of Data-powered Health

National Library of Medicine's Strategic Plan involving Data

NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science

What is a Data Management Plan?

A data management plan should be developed during the Process and Methods stage of the Data Life Cycle. Creating a plan before collecting and analyzing data will save time later in the project.

Benefits of a data management plan:

Consistent data collecting standards followed by all researchers involved on the project
Increased efficiency of research, with clearly defined roles for managing and collecting data
Adherence to funder requirements
Allows for easy sharing and reanalyzing of data by other researchers
Proper records management and metadata development allows others to make sense of your data
Storing and Preservation will allow you to quickly locate the raw data if an question pops up or something needs to be reanalyzed

Best Practices

Your plan should include answers to:

Types of data to be produced
Data collection method
Standards on file formats and organization
Roles and responsibilities of project members
Storage and backup of data
Access and privacy requirements
Archiving plans for project completion

Data Policies

CDC Grants
The Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) uses grants and cooperative agreements to fund research and non-research public health programs that advance the Agency’s public health mission domestically and abroad to keep Americans safe and healthy where they work, live and play.
Common Data Element (CDE) Resource Portal
This portal provides access to information about NIH-supported CDEs, as well as tools and resources to assist investigators developing protocols for data collection
Funders Policies from DMPTool
Use the A-Z links below to narrow down the list by institution or use the search box to search for specific DMP Templates.
National Science Foundation Policies
Policies on data sharing, data management plans, requirements, and FAQs.
NIH Data Sharing Policy
This guidance provides the National Institutes of Health (NIH) policy statement on data sharing and additional information on the implementation of this policy.
Sherpa Juliet
Sherpa Juliet enables researchers and librarians to see funders' conditions for open access publication.
SPARC
Browse the different data sharing, management and preservation requirements by various federal funding agencies.

Library Support

Contact your Liaison Librarian for assistance with the data cycle before starting your research project.

Guide Author: Adrienne Brodie

You will receive help on:

Writing a data management or data sharing plan
Guidance on data management plan requirements from funders or journals
Recommendations on tools and resources for creating data management plans
Identifying resources for annotating, storing, and sharing your research data
Help with naming conventions and data formatting
Recommendations on the proper metadata standard to follow
Finding and evaluating a suitable repository for your data
Locating data sets to reanalyze for your research

Data Management Nightmare

Useful Resources

Checklist for a Data Management Plan

Clinical Research Toolbox
The NCCIH Clinical Research Toolbox provides a Web-based information repository for investigators and staff involved in NCCIH-funded clinical research. The Toolbox contains templates, sample forms, and information materials to assist clinical investigators in the development and conduct of high-quality clinical research studies.
DataONE Best Practices
The DataONE Best Practices database provides individuals with recommendations on how to effectively work with their data through all stages of the data lifecycle.
Data Management Checklist from UK Data Service
This checklist can help you identify best practices for data management and data sharing.

Data Management Guide
This guide provides a step-by-step introduction to the data management life cycle.

DMP Tool
Data Management Planning Tool: create, review, and share data management plans that meet institutional and funder requirements.
Elements of a Data Management Plan
This framework can be used as an outline in assembling data management plans to accompany grant applications.

How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan
This guide outlines the process of developing a data management and sharing plan. Planning for the effective creation, management and sharing of your data enables you to get the most out of your research.

How to Write a Data and Safety Monitoring Plan
Investigators should consider using this template when developing the Data and Safety Monitoring Plan (DSMP) for clinical studies.
Open Science Framework
Keep all your files, data, and protocols in one centralized location. No more trawling emails to find files or scrambling to recover from lost data.
Ten Simple Rules for Creating a Good Data Management Plan
This article from PLoS Computational Biology details the steps in the data management planning process.