Research Data Management

Resource for best practices in managing, storing, and sharing your research data

Creating a Data Management Plan (DMP)

A data management plan (DMP) is a written document describing the nature and structure of the data you will likely use or produce in the course of research, along with your strategies for dealing with it throughout and after your project.

A successful DMP should answer the following:

What data will be gathered or produced?
Who will manage this data?
How will the data be disseminated?
How will the data be preserved for reuse?

Components of an Effective DMP

Description of the project - purpose of the research, organization(s) and staff involved
Description of the data to be collected - the nature and format of the data, how it will be collected, and overview of secondary data available on the topic
Standards to be applied for formats, metadata, etc.
Plans for short-term storage and data management - file formats, local storage and back up procedures, and security
Legal and ethical issues - intellectual property, confidentiality of study participants
Access policies and provisions - how will you make it available to others, any restrictions needed, etc.
Provisions for long-term archiving and preservation - such as in a data archive or repository.
Assigned data management responsibilities - which persons will actually be responsible for ensuring data management; how will compliance with this plan be monitored and ensured over time; how will long term storage be funded?

Image by Dan Mukendi, from Wikipedia

via:

Data Planning Checklist
From the California Institute of Technology Library Research Data Management LibGuide
GO FAIR
GO FAIR provides guidelines to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reuse of digital assets. The principles emphasise machine-actionability (i.e., the capacity of computational systems to find, access, interoperate, and reuse data with none or minimal human intervention) because humans increasingly rely on computational support to deal with data as a result of the increase in volume, complexity, and creation speed of data.

DMPTool

One of the simplest and most effective ways to create a DMP is by visiting DMPTool.org -

DMPTool.org
A collaborative effort among several universities to streamline data management planning. DMPTool is a web-based tool to help construct data management plans using templates that address specific funding requirements.

UTSA is an institutional partner of DMPTool so you can login to access the UTSA customized DMPTool to save your plans, access UTSA-specific information and resources, and request a review of your DMP by a member of the Data Management Services team. Simply choose "University of Texas at San Antonio” as your institution and login with your abc123 credentials.

The DMPTool supports most federal and several non-profit and private funding agencies that require DMPs as part of the grant application, providing templates that meet the various requirements and streamlining the DMP creation process. If your funder isn't listed, there is also an option for a generic plan.

Using DMPTool

Click Sign in then Your institution

Begin typing San Antonio; when UTSA pops up, select it then click Go

If prompted, enter your abc123 and passphrase. Once logged in you will see your My Dashboard.

To create a new plan, click Create Plan then enter a title for your project, research organization, and funder if applicable. Be sure to check mock project for testing, practice, or educational purposes if this is not going to be used for an actual research project.

Finally, search for your funder, a funder in your discipline, or a generic template and click Create Plan

Click each tab then use the + to expand each field and answer the questions shown to the best of your ability until you reach the Download tab.

From the Download tab choose your preferred options (or use the default options) and click Download Plan

You can also Finalize / Publish your plan if this is an actual research project and/or you would like to share your plan.