Research & Data Management Services: Plan & Design

What is a Data Management Plan?

A data managment plan (DMP) is documentation describing how a research project's data will be used during and after completion of the project.

DMPs are a requirement of many grant-funded projects, particularly government-awarded grants such as NSF and NIH. 

National Science Foundation requirements for DMPs

National Institutes of Health requirements for DMPs

DMP requirements vary by funder, but are generally 1-2 pages long and include the following:

• Description of data to be collected or generated
• Storage and backup description
• Metadata standard
• Access and sharing description
• Archiving selection and retention policy
• Ethics and privacy
• Roles and responsibilities

What does a DMP look like?

Sample plans from the NIH

Sample plans from ICPSR (social sciences)

Publicly available plans through DMPTool

DMPTool is a free, open-source, online application that helps researchers create data management plans. 

De-identifying Government Data Sets

Tips on file naming conventions from Research Data Managment @ Harvard University

Reusable data practices from Dryad