Why Write a Data Management Plan?
- Meet funding agency requirements.
Some federal funding agencies, including the NSF and the NIH, require grant applicants to submit data management or sharing plans with proposals.
- Increase the visibility of your research and contribute to others' research.
Sharing your data in a public repository helps other researchers find and cite your work and potentially reuse your data, which may result in new findings.
- Preserve your data.
Ensure that your data will be accessible and usable in the future, even as file formats, software, and storage media change. This provides a backup if loss of data occurs.
- Protect yourself and your subjects.
Data management planning can fulfill ethical and legal requirements to protect intellectual property and the privacy of your subjects, and result in a permanent record supporting your research findings. Managing research data is an essential component of responsible scholarship.
Data Management Plan Tools
- DMPToolA web-based tool containing data management plan requirements and templates for many US funding agencies. Draft and share draft with collaborators; export completed plans to multiple formats. Sign in using Option 1 and search for University of Kansas. Log in with your KU Online ID and password.
- DMPonline (Digital Curation Centre, UK)A web-based tool containing data management plan templates for most UK and some US funding agencies. You must create an individual account to use this tool.