Purpose of a Data Management Plan

What is a Data Management Plan (DMP) and why should you write one?

A data management plan (DMP) is both a formal document and a practical tool. Both research funders and institutions require research projects to have a DMP. A DMP outlines how data is planned to be handled in the process of a research project, from data collection or re-use, through data processing and analysis, to data preservation and archiving. Depending on the field of research and the needs of the project, the DMP may take different forms. The DMP should be considered a living document and be revised as the project develops.

Writing a DMP will

• Establish good data management routines in your project, including creating awareness about ethical, legal and privacy aspects and inform allocation of required resources
• Make it easier to have a unified approach to data management within a research group and create awareness about potential data-related issues as early as possible
• Help you to create a preservation plan for your data and gather all necessary documentation to archive high-quality FAIR data (openly or with controlled access)
• Help you choose the right storage and backup solutions and thereby avoid data loss or violation of information security
• Give you an overview of data-related project aspects and thereby complement other project management tools and ease coordination with service providers and other stakeholders

Further resources

Contributors