Research Data Management

The Tri-Agency (consisting of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)) have announced their draft policy for research data management.

The draft policy addresses three areas:

1. institutional strategies
2. research data management plans
3. data deposit

The final version of this policy is expected to launch in Spring 2020.

Portage has released a template for an Institutional RDM Strategy document.

Research data management (RDM) is the effective storage, access, and preservation of research data that is often required by funding agencies. It involves planning, file naming and formatting, following metadata standards, data storage, and legal and ethical considerations. RDM is essential in continuing the data lifecycle because it enables individuals to access and reuse the data sets created by other researchers.

The Data Lifecycle

Image courtesy of NTU Libraries Blog

Curious about current RDM practices in Canada? Take a look at this substantial recent publication detailing a survey of RDM practices at many Canadian institutions: 

Cheung, M., A. Cooper, D. Dearborn, E. Hill, E. Johnson, M. Mitchell, and K. Thompson. “Practices Before Policy: Research Data Management Behaviours in Canada”. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, vol. 17, no. 1, July 2022, pp. 1-80, doi:10.21083/partnership.v17i1.6779.