A data management plan (DMP) is a living document for a research project, which outlines data creation, data policies, access and ownership rules, management practices, management facilities and equipment, and who will be responsible for what. It further outlines important decisions generated or gathered during the course of a research project.
Research funders in New Zealand are increasingly requesting a DMP for funded research projects. The University of Canterbury Library and the eResearch Team provides support in writing DMPs including templates and checklists.
Benefits of a DMP
- Increased Research Efficiency: You can find, understand, and use data when you need it.
- Quality Assurance: DMPs help ensure the quality, integrity and accessibility of research data.
- Enhanced Reputation: Shared data enhances research visibility and increases citations.
- Compliance Support: A DMP supports researchers to comply with ethical codes, data protection laws, journal requirements, and funder policies.
- Ease of Sharing: Documenting your data throughout its lifecycle makes it easier for you to share and for others to understand and reuse your data
- Time Saving: Planning for your expected data, backing them up, and documenting them in detail preserves time that is otherwise lost in searching for, recovering, and deciphering data in the future.
Inadequate data management can lead to catastrophes like the loss of data or the violation of people’s privacy. Your eResearch Consultant will request a DMP upon receiving a request for data storage, or research cloud compute services. If there isn’t a DMP in place, we will help you write one!
Create a DMP for a Project
See the Library Subject Guide for links to Data Management Plans.
See the Australian Research Data Commons for examples of DMPs Data Management Plans | Australian Research Data Commons | ARDC.
Data management plans may have specific requirements depending on the funder. A web project maintains a repository of many templates. You can also check example DMPs from the Digital Curation Centre.
DMP Support
The eResearch consultancy service helps with DMPs in terms of data storage requirements, sharing and access, and analytical compute. For more information about DMPs, the UC library hosts information on Libguides.
