Research Data Management
Good scholarly practice requires the transparent documentation and management of project processes and results.
The University Library offers you support in the management of your research data according to FAIR principles: Are your data “Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable”?
Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice
FAIR data principles
The efficient design of Research Data Management (RDM) requires the creation of an individual plan for the collection, publication, archiving and subsequent re-use of the data.
The following phases of the research data management process can act as a set of introductory guidelines to the (research) data life cycle.
- Project initiation
- Creation of a data management plan
- Planning the data modelling
- Data collection
- During the project
- Data analysis
- Documenting the data by assigning metadata
- Creating collaborative research environments
- Data visualisation
- Integrating sustainable data formats
- Data backup
- Archiving
- Data selection
- Final metadata assignment
- Deployment of sustainable data formats
- Publication and re-use
- Identification of possible publication forms and options (Open Access)
- Consideration of legal aspects (copyright law, data protection etc.) and possible embargo periods
- Publication of primary data (e.g. in a repository)
- Assigning persistent identifiers
(adapted from https://www.forschungsdaten.info/themen/informieren-und-planen/workflows-im-fdm/. In German)
(Research) data life cycle (In German)
The work-flow resulting from the application of the guideline elements outlined above is referred to as the (Research) Data Management Plan (DMP). This plan evolves dynamically throughout the process, so it is only truly completed at the conclusion of the project itself.
The DMP simplifies the RDM process by providing a coordinated overview of the entire process, including individual stages and the way they are interconnected through fundamental information on the research project, data collection methodology, responsibility assignment, funding and resources, (metadata) standards, and the legal position.