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In this How-to, you learn about preparing a DMP with the GFBio Data Management Plan Tool (DMPT) and about the DMP Support Service GFBio offers to help you create a state-of-the-art DMP.
Starting up with your DMP
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You have just heard about DMPs and now want to write your own? If you have never considered data management planning before, it might be good to get some general information.
Data management planning is the starting point in the data life cycle. Data management plans (DMPs) are ideally established at this point. But a DMP is not only created at the beginning of a project, but it is also a living document, and you should return to it at each step of the cycle. Ideally, the DMP should be revisited often throughout the lifetime of a project to ensure proper data documentation and management. You can think of a DMP as an addition to the data policy of a larger umbrella project.
Have a look at our training materials, in which you can find fact sheets on data management planning and other aspects of the data life cycle. Also, have a look at the training we offer and more.
In the following steps, you will learn about the most important aspects of data management planning and get in touch with the GFBio Data Management Plan Tool (DMPT). You can continue reading the How-To with or without using the DMPT in parallel.
The GFBio DMPT contains the most important questions that you should ask when starting with data management planning and is based on the DFG Guidelines on the Handling of Research Data in Biodiversity Research. Be aware that it does not provide a ready-to-use DMP that you can just attach to your project proposal. Please use our personal DMP support (you will find a button at the end of the tool) to contact our experts.
Step 1 -
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Provide general information about your project
It is all about the planning! Start to consider general information about your project right at the beginning. Besides the project name and the people involved, you already give a first impression of the research data you will produce.
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The funding you are applying for may also influence the content or structure of your DMP. Some funders have special requirements for a DMP as a mandatory part of the proposal (e.g., DFG, Horizon 2020; more about Horizon here). Funders, as well as institutions or publishers, may also have their own own policies and guidelines for data management. You do not need to know all the details of these at the beginning of your data management planning, but it is important to know the requirements and to document them. If you are unsure which policies or guidelines you have to stick to, just let us know, and we can support you in identifying them.
Step 2 -
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Mention the data you will collect and your methods for data collection
When it is either text files, code, GIS, numeric and molecular data, or multimedia files – depending on your research questions and methods, you create different types of data. In environmental and ecological research, it is common to have more than one multiple data typetypes. Studies and projects are a complex composition of various methods. If you are an experienced researcher in your field, you might already have an idea of the data formats (e.g., .xlsx, .csv, .docx, .txt, .shp) you will create. In this case, you can specify your data types, even to the level of data formats. Please document the data types and formats as detailed as possible when sending us submitting your DMP support request to us. The more information we get, the better we can support you in your data management planning.
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Working in environmental sciences often implies the collection of physical objects, which in some cases have to be archived as well. With GFBio, you can submit and archive several kinds of objects related to your research data. By means of some basic questions on them (integrated in the DMPT), we can estimate if your physical objects can be archived in GFBio if you would like it so in the future. Your DMP should also contain a notice if you are working with sequence data, as it requires special expertise and has to follow certain standards.
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Describe your metadata
Have you already thought about metadata?
Metadata is more than the description of your research data. They contain important information on the data content, collection, and processing (who, when, what, where, how, how often, etc.). Only by means of metadata, data portals like GFBio can browse, filter, and navigate through huge research data collections. They also make your data findable. There are certain metadata standards and defined terminologies that enable the integration of research data from different partners. You can, for example, use our our VAT tool and intersect your own data sets with layers from GFBio data archives.
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Also, have a look at our data life cycle fact sheet Describe.
Step 4 - Consider ethical and legal aspects
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Conscientious data management implies licensing your data. GFBio supports the idea of open access to research data. But open access does not mean everyone can use your data at will. Data can (or must) be cited in the same manner as publications. Licenses, such as the Creative Commons licenses, define citation demands as well as further terms of use, for example, whether the data may be transformed.
Step 5 - Outline the preservation and sharing of your data and metadata
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Find more information on data preservation in our data life cycle fact sheets Preserve and Submit.
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Getting your DMP ready with the GFBio DMP support
Once you have completed the questionnaire in the DMPT, you can download your entries as a structured PDF file, and if you are logged in, you can save your entries to your personal account and revise them whenever needed.
You can also request free personal DMP support from our experts. If that is the case, we recommend filling in the DMPT as far as possible and then sending a support request (you will find a button at the end of the tool). We will then contact you to talk about open questions. In your support request, you can also inform us of any questions you have or the specific aspect of the DMP for which you require further information and support.
For general questions, you can contact us anytime.
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