Data Management Plan

A Data Management Plan (DMP) is an essential tool for all research. It is a summary document that describes the data lifecycle of a research project (an ANR project, a thesis project, or any scientific project) or of an entity (a research unit, team or infrastructure).

 

It contributes to the quality, re-usability and longevity of data, by establishing a framework for its management throughout its lifecycle, from creation to archiving.

 

This reference document encourages collaboration, communication, coordination and the sharing of data and its practices. It also facilitates the traceability of the methods and standards used, which is essential for the reproducibility of results.

 

By enhancing the value of data and making it more transparent, the data management plan contributes to the sustainability of research.

 

The data management plan is an adjustable document. It needs to be updated regularly to adapt to the progress of a project or to new practices and organisations within an entity.

 

All researchers can draw up a data management plan for their research projects. For funded research projects, a data management plan is required by public funders such as the French National Research Agency.

 

The LUE INFRA+ programme encourages the drafting of a data management plan for research infrastructures labelled INFRA+ by including it in the labelling criteria.

Project or Entity Data Management Plan? Which One to Write?

Questions

Project

Entity

Who are they for?

For research projects only, including theses, whether funded or not

For research units, teams and infrastructures

Who writes them?

Collective drafting (e.g. coordinator and project members)

Collective drafting (e.g. an internal working group)

When should it be written?

 

At the start and end of a project

When an organisation wishes to establish a data policy

The document should be updated regularly to reflect project advancements or new entity practices.

What benefits do they bring?

==> Planning

==> Reference

==> Monitoring and management

==> Harmonisation

==> Reference

==> Guidance

Which themes do they cover?

  • Information about the project or entity
  • Origin of the data produced or re-used
  • Documentation and data quality control methods
  • Intermediate storage of data
  • Legal, regulatory and ethical requirements for data
  • Data accessibility and openness 
  • Data preservation and archiving

What links do they have?

The entity DMP provides guidance and support for drafting projet DMPs for members of a research unit or users of a research infrastructure. It serves as a common template that project DMPs associated with the entity can follow.

 

Who can help me?

The ADOC Lorraine data workshop will help you to use the DMP OPIDoR tool to draw up and implement a data management plan for your project or research entity. Contact the team at donnees-recherche@univ-lorraine.fr

 

It also offers one-hour online workshops to learn about the project data management plan. Register now