Data Management Plan Guidance

Types of Data

Metadata and Standards

Sharing and Access

Re-use and Re-distribution

Short and Long Term Storage and Management

Re-use and re-distribution

Policies for re-use and re-distribution articulate how you will allow others to make use of your data. The terms, permissions, and conditions of re-use should be explicit, so that others know what they can or can not do with the data that you make available. Proper re-use of data depends not only on licensing or re-use policies, but also appropriate ethics approvals, accessible data formats, and clear metadata.

Things to Think About

• What are the further intended and/or foreseeable research uses for the completed datasets?
• Are there tools/software needed to work with the data?
• Under what conditions will you make the data available for re-use?
  • Will you permit re-use, redistribution, or the creation of new tools, services, data sets, or products (derivatives), and will commercial use be allowed?
  • Could a licensing approach or Creative Commons License serve your goals for encouraging, simplifying, and setting parameters for re-use?
• Are there any reasons not to re-use data? (ethical, non-disclosure, etc.)
• Are there any timing issues such as embargo periods or right-of-first-use for data collector, creator, or principal investigator?

Cite and Be Cited

As with journal articles and books, citation is the appropriate mechanism to acknolwedge the scholarly use or reuse of research data. Data citation makes the identification and verification of data sets easier and rewards the data producers. If you want citation to be a condition of re-use of your data, indicate that in your re-use policy. 

Unique identifiers are a key element for data citation. Get a DOI for your data using the Libraries' subscription to EZID. Learn more.

Example Language

1. Local example using EZID
   All final data products will be assigned DOIs to facilitate data citation. DOI assignment will be managed through the University Libraries institutional subscription to EZID, a DOI-creation and management service.
2. General NSF Example from a DataONE Best Practices Workshop
   Access to databases and associated software tools generated under the project will be available for educational, research and non-profit purposes. Such access will be provided using web-based applications, as appropriate. Materials generated under the project will be disseminated in accordance with University/Participating institutional and NSF policies. Depending on such policies, materials may be transferred to others under the terms of a material transfer agreement. Those that use the data (as opposed to any resulting manuscripts) should cite it as follows:
   Lind, E, E Borer and A Kay. yyyy. Grassland Arthropod abundance and stoichiometry associated with nutrient manipulation. [URL]; accessed on ddmmyyyy.
   This information will be described in the metadata. Intended and foreseeable users of the data are NutNet collaborators and participants, as well as other scientists interested in arthropod-plant relationships. This data set could be used in combination with similar data sets from other NutNet sites or for meta-analysis.
   (http://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dataone.org%2Fsites%2Fall%2Fdocuments%2FDMP_NutNet_Formatted.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNExByKp7cdGVBROsqg3A_7SUpjP6w)
3. General NSF Example from a DataONE Best Practices Workshop
   Access to databases and associated software tools generated under the project will be available for educational, research and non-profit purposes. Such access will be provided using web-based applications, as appropriate. Materials general under the project will be disseminated in accordance with University/Participating institutional and NSF policies. Depending on such policies, materials may be transferred to others under the terms of a material transfer agreement. Publication of data shall occur during the project, if appropriate, or at the end of the project, consistent with normal scientific practices. Research data which documents, supports, and validates research findings will be made available after the main findings from the final research data set have been accepted for publication.
   (http://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dataone.org%2Fsites%2Fall%2Fdocuments%2FDMP_MaunaLoa_Formatted.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNG1gHy4BUJZyA6pqfg7uSf_ie8sdw)

References

• Donnelly, Martin, and Sarah Jones. “Checklist for a Data Management Plan." DCC. https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/system/attachments/5/original/DMP_checklist_v2.2_100106-publicVersion.pdf?1267725613
• Jones, Sarah. "How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan." DCC. https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/system/attachments/11/original/How-to-develop-DMP.pdf?1318949941
• MIT Libraries. "Writing an NSF Data Management Plan." MIT Libraries. http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/subjects/data-management/nsf-dm-plan.html
• Australian National Data Service. "Discovery, Access, Reuse." http://ands.org.au/discovery/index.html

Last Edited: 4 December 2012