Research Data Management and the Data Lifecycle
"Data life cycle diagram" by RDMkit / CC BY
Don't wait until your research is nearly done to start organizing your data; understanding the data lifecycle and developing a data management plan can help improve your research process, meet funding agency and journal requirements, and increase the reach of your research.
Consult with your liaison or the scholarly communications and research librarian for assistance with developing a data management plan or in locating, describing, storing, or sharing data. Check out the rest of this page for information on data best practices, creating data management plans for grant applications, sharing your data, and more.
- RDMkit Data Life CycleTools, resources, and information for each step of the data lifecycle.
Data Management Best Practices and Recommendations
- FAIR Data PrinciplesPrinciples to keep data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable.
- Library of Congress Recommended FormatsDetailed recommended and acceptable file formats for all data types.
- Dryad Frequently Asked QuestionsFormatting and submission questions from a data repository
Data Management Requirements
Many grant-giving organizations and journals require a plan for research data management and sharing. Make sure to research what your grant or journal publication requires.
- NIH Grant Data Sharing RequirementsNIH grants require prompt sharing of final research data.
- NIH New vs. Old Data Sharing RequirementsComparison of 2023 NIH grant data requirements vs. 2003
- NIH Data Types to be SharedNIH appendix of what data types are covered under its sharing policy.
- NSF Grant Data Management Plan GuidelinesNSF grants require Data Management Plans.
- Sharing Publication-Related Data and Materials: Responsibilities of Authorship in the Life Sciences2003 National Research Council publication recommends data sharing.
Data Management Plans
- DMPToolEasy-to-use DMP templates.
- NNLM Toolkit for the NIH Data Management and Sharing PolicyNNLM policy and resources on data management plans.
- ICPSR DMP FrameworkGuidelines and examples for creating a DMP.
- University of Leeds DMP GuidelinesGuidelines and best practices for writing a DMP and managing data.
- DART Project DMP RubricRubric for assessing your DMP (particularly for NSF proposals).
Data Repositories
Where should you deposit or search for data? There are many possibilities to consider:
- Funding body required or recommended repositories: Your grant may require you to deposit in certain repositories or suggest reputable repositories.
- Discipline- or data type-specific repositories: These will attract users looking for more specific data, but may have a smaller audience than general repositories.
- General data repositories: May have a wider audience, but may not reach users searching in specific repositories
- DigitalCommons@PCOM: Can host PCOM datasets connected to published articles or not
Remember to research repositories early in the research process and determine whether deposit is free.
- Selecting a Data RepositoryNIH overview of how to choose a data repository.
- NNLM Data Repository FinderList of NIH-supported data repositories with questions to help choose.
- Registry of Research Data RepositoriesLarge collection of reputable repositories with many filtering options.
- FAIRsharing.orgCollection of data repositories that follow FAIR principles.
- DryadPaid general data repository.
- Mendeley DataFree general data repository.
Data De-identification
Shared data must be de-identified to remove PHI and other identifying information.
- HIPAA PHI: Definition of PHI and List of 18 IdentifiersDefinition and examples of PHI from UC Berkeley.
- Guidelines for De-identification of PHI for HIPAA ComplianceGuidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services on de-identifying Protected Health Information.
- Amnesia Anonymization ToolFree data anonymization software funded by the EU.
- Cornell Anonymization ToolkitOpen source software for anonymizing data.
- NLM-ScrubberFree clinical text de-identification tool from NNLM.