Data management plans (DMP)
A Data Management Plan (DMP) describes how the research data is handled both during actual research and after the project has been completed. The goal of a DMP is to highlight various aspects of data management, such as: collection, documentation, processing, storage and archiving. The purpose is to facilitate conservation and openly make research data available. Several financiers require that a DMP be included in applications, eg. Horizon 2020 and Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council) to name a few.
Kickstart your DMP at Halmstad University
Halmstad University has their own hosted instance of DMPonline (https://dmp.hh.se). You log in with your institutional login credentials. For more information, read the help section of DMPonline. This tool has been developed by The British Digital Curation Center (DCC). It´s main purpose is to work as a guidance when creating data management plans. It contains both generic templates as well as specific templates for financiers, such as the Swedish Research Council and Horizon 2020.
Examples of data management plans
- Checklist for Data Management Plan (Swedish National Data Service, SND)
Note that parts of this checklist might not be relevant to all types of projects. - Guidelines on Data Management in Horizon 2020
- Checklist for a Data Management Plan (Digital Curation Centre, DCC)
- Data Publication Plan (Environment Climate Data Sweden, ECDS)
SND also has a data management guide.
A data management plan is a living document, which should be updated every time a research project develops in order to reflect the changes and document what has happened.
Closely tied to the demands of DMP that has arisen lies the FAIR principles. That data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.