Research Guides: Research Data Management: Data Management Plans (DMPs)

What to address in your DMP

What types of data will be produced in terms of format, file size, and classification (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, or sensitive)?
What metadata standards do you need to follow for documentation?
Do any considerations need to be make to protect sensitive information, including study participant confidentiality and intellectual property protection?
What policies do you need to follow with respect to data sharing and reuse?
How will you ensure archiving and preservation of the data you will produce?
What are the roles of individuals and their responsibilities for carrying out the data management plan?

Review guidelines from your funding agency for a complete list of what to include in your data management plan. The above list is abbreviated and should assist in creating a data management plan if a funding agency has not outlined specifics to include in the plan.

Research Funder Public Access Policies

See this guide for lists of federal agencies and their requirements relating to DMPs, open data, and other information.

Example DMP by agency

ICPSR: Sample DMP for Social and Political Science Data
NEH-ODH: DMP from FSU
NIH: Examples of Data-Sharing Plans
NSF, Biology Directorate, Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP): 3 DMP examples from funded grants by Stanford Professor Virginia Walbot, including additional information and guidance.
NSF: Example DMP for several different NSF Directorates by researchers from UC San Diego.

Examples provided by the Stanford Library DMP libguide and FSU Libraries.

Why are Data Management Plans Necessary?

Data Management Plans (DMPs) are mandatory for all grants pertaining to agencies such as NSF, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Institute for Health (NIH).

Reasons to have a DMP:

The purpose of DMPs is to organize the collection of data through making the primary investigator critically think through potential problems and questions that occur when gathering data.
Crucial for the reproducibility of data.
Prevents/reduces the likelihood for data loss, data errors, and unethical uses of data to occur.
Data that is generated by a federally funded project is publicly funded data. It should therefore be public for broad sharing and accessibility.

Credit for information given to PennState

DMPTool

The DMPTool provides detailed guidance and links to general and institutional resources and walks a researcher through the process of generating a comprehensive plan tailored to specific DMP requirements.

FSU is a partner institution meaning that you can use your Blackboard ID and password to access your account as well as have access to local resources and links provided by your FSU librarians.

More Resources for writing DMPs

Research data management (RDM) is part of the research process and something that should be considered before a project begins. This tab has information related to planning for effective research data management. Please look at the resources below to for comprehensive guidance creating data management plans.

Public Access Mandates and DMPs

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) has compiled a list of public access requirements by funding agency. Use this list to find the most up to date information related to your agency's requirements.

Browse Article and Data Sharing Requirements by Federal Agency (Future and current sharing policies.)

Research Funder Data Sharing Policies (List of data sharing policies.)