The foundation stone for successful management of data and its open publication is a data management plan (DMP). This is a document that describes what data will be created and how, helps you check that you have the necessary equipment and support in place, and outlines plans for data sharing and preservation. It contains information about the accessibility of data and guides the authors of research in the application of the FAIR principles.

Many providers of funding require the creation and submission of a DMP as a condition of their grant agreements. The data steward is available in the Faculty of Social Sciences for that purpose and can answer your questions about creating a plan and help you avoid the pitfalls that can be encountered in connection with open access publishing of data in accord with the FAIR principles.

You can find more information about DMPs on the website of the Open Science Support Centre.

Your data will be considered open if access to it is not limited in any way. However, it is good practice to manage open data in accord with the so-called FAIR principles. Open data should be:

FINDABLE

Quality, machine readable data (“metadata”) that can be located with a single, constant identifier (for example, a digital object identifier (DOI).

ACCESSIBLE

Open access to data (or at least, to metadata) is assured, ideally with the assistance of a repository.

INTEROPERABLE

In order that your data is compatible with other datasets, it is necessary to use standard terms for data description.

REUSABLE

Data is sufficiently described and shared under the least restrictive license possible (for example, Creative Commons “no rights reserved” (CC0) or “attribution” (CC BY)) so that users know how the data was generated, what it describes, and how it can be used.

You can find more information on the website of the UK’s Open Science Support Centre.