Data Management Plan and Resources
Overview
Funders require plans for how data will be managed. The past few years have seen an explosion of digital data and/or digital objects from many disciplines not only within the academic world, but also in the home environment.
Depending on the research discipline, data can often be deposited in one or more data centers (or repositories) that will provide access to the data. These repositories may have specific requirements :
- subject/research domain
- data re-use and access
- file format and data structure, and
- metadata.
Below are resources to assist with developing data management plans and a listing of discipline-specific repositories that are available for preserving data.
Why use Public Data stores
- Facilitate discoveries by making it available through national repositories
- Increase the impact with data citation
- Comply with funding mandates
- Avoid loss in the event of a disaster
- Increase research efficiency
Security Guidelines
In many cases, repositories and data centers will have their own policies regarding access permissions. If you are going to use a repository/data center, check their policies before constructing your own access permissions or including them in a data management plan.
Agency-Specific Guidance on Data Management Plans
- NIH - Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing (NOT-OD-21-013)
- NIH - Data management and sharing requirements: Tips and tricks to plan ahead
- NSF - Data Management Plan Requirements
- See also the Templates page for agency-specific attachment formatting and content requirements
Developing a Data Management Plan:
- SPARKS --SIUE Institutional Repository and LibGuide
- SIUE Records Management - Policies and Records Retention Manual for SIUE available for download
- Data Management Plan Tool - Developed by the University of California Curation Center
- Data Management Plan Guide - University of Connecticut
- Data Management Training Module - Northern Illinois University
- DHHS ORI - Data Acquisition and Management Resources
- General Data Management Resources - California Digital Library
-
Briney KA, Coates H, Goben A. “Foundational Practices of Research Data Management.” Research Ideas and Outcomes 6: e56508. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.6.e56508. (2020)
Data Stores
Chemistry
- Cambridge Structural Database - small molecule crystal structures
- ChemSpider - free-to-access collection of chemical structures and their associated information
- eCrystals - x-ray crystallographic data
- PubChem - NCBI's repository of bioactivity/bioassay data and information for "small" molecules (i.e. not macromolecular). Both text-based and structure-based search tools are provided
Computer Science
- Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) - Archive of data for scientific analysis of network functions
Environmental and Geosciences
- Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS) - A data portal, hosted at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (Columbia University), for a number of NSF-supported marine research programs
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) - Archive of datasets, includinh Meteorology and paleoclimatology, World-wide marine environmental and ecosystem data, and Cryospheric datasets from ground field research and satellites
GIS and Geography
- arcGIS - Cloud-based software to create and share interactive web maps
- Data.gov - One-stop for federal, state and local research data
- Federal Geographic Data Committee - Provides access to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Clearing House Network
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) - Archive of datasets
Life and Biological Sciences
- Biogeographic Information and Observation System (BIOS) - ssystem designed to enable the management, visualization, and analysis of biogeographic data
- Dryad - Dryad is an international repository of data underlying peer-reviewed articles in the basic and applied biosciences. It has been developed by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and Drexel University's Metadata Research Center
- RSCB Protein DataBank - Experimentally determined structures for macromolecules (protein and nucleic acids). The site includes search and visualization tools
- UniProt - Free protein sequences
Physics
- HEP Data - high-energy physics reaction database of Numerical HEP scattering cross sections
- NIST Physical Standards Laboratory - physical reference data and property tables
- National Nuclear Data Center - includes nuclear structure, reaction and decay databases
Social Sciences
- Dataverse Network is a collection of social science research data contained in virtual data archives called "dataverses". Maintained by the IQSS (Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences at Harvard), you can create your own "dataverse" and upload your data, subject to certain terms.
- ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research) A non-profit, membership-based data archive located at the University of Michigan. The UO is a member of ICPSR, which allows students, staff, and faculty to access ICPSR data files and documentation for research.
