A well-structured Data Management Plan (DMP) clarifies how and what data will be created, processed, and documented. A DMP helps you to ask all the right questions concerning data management before starting the actual work. Also, Data management plans Management Plans (DMPs) are increasingly required as a mandatory proposal part by research institutions and funding agencies. Having a high-quality DMP saves you a lot of time and frustration in the long run, and increases the transparency and the integrity of your work.
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You have just heard about DMPs and now want to write your own? That's great! 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, and 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.
In the following steps, you will learn about the most important aspects of data management planning and learn to explore the DMPT (you can continue reading the How-To with without using the tool 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.
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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). Many funders, as well as institutions or publishers publishers, also have their 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.
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You have no idea about what metadata is, or you don't know yet what your metadata will look like? - Don't worry, just let us know, and we will find out together with you.
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In some cases, data cannot or should not be published immediately when submitting to an archive. One possible reason might be that you collect research data within the scope of your PhD thesis, and you have to publish your studies before making data available for others. In this case, you can define access restrictions for your research data. This means you can already submit your data to a public archive and get an identifier for them (e.g., DOI) - which makes them citable and reusable, even though you don't want your data to be published immediately.
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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 (youc an you can do it at the end, by completing the questionnaire). 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.
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