Data management plan (DMP)
Data management planning is a key part of research design. Planning the collection, use, storage and further use of data provides clarity for the researcher and the research team. It also helps to ensure that the research data can be used after the study has been completed. Good data management planning will ensure that your research data generated during the project are of high quality and FAIR-compliant, i.e. discoverable and accessible by you and others, technically interoperable and as reusable as possible. Especially with data containing personal data, further use and archiving is only possible by planning in advance and taking this into account when informing the subjects. The data management plan is a living document that will be completed and updated during the course of the research project. It describes and covers the entire life cycle of the data, from collection, production and processing to publication, archiving or disposal.
Research funders and the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ require researchers to prepare a data management plan. Increasingly, the plan is also a condition of funding. A data management plan is also a mandatory annex to the ethical review of research.
The Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥'s Research Data Policy requires that a DMP be drawn up for each research project carried out at the university.
The basic format of the DMP describes
- what data you will use, collect and produce for the study,
- how you take into account legislation, ethical principles guiding the research and the rights to the data
- how to document and create metadata,
- where you will store the data during the research and how you will ensure its integrity,
- how you will dispose of the data (archiving, publication, destruction) at the end of the research project; and
- what roles are involved in managing the data and what resources are required for the activities you describe.
A basic-format DMP can be drawn up on a template approved by the funder, following the guidelines on this website. You can find the Word template below. It is also possible to use the Finnish national DMPTuuli tool, but note carefully that DMPTuuli does not contain the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥'s own guidelines.
NB: EU-funded projects use their own DMP template.
