When creating a Data Management Plan (DMP) for a grant proposal, always check the specific funding agency or program solicitation for guidelines. See our Federal Agency Public Access Policies Research Guide for information about agency guidelines. Remember that you can use the DMPTool to help develop your plan.
In general, there are six core components to a DMP:
- Description of data to be produced or collected, including data standards or formats
- Identification of protocols or workflows to help manage data throughout the project
- Description of documentation and metadata standards to describe the data
- Plan for short-term data storage & backup, including necessary security measures
- Plan for sharing data, including legal and ethical issues, intellectual property issues, or access policies and provisions
- Plan for data preservation, archiving, and long-term access
Making your data openly accessible is not only important for ensuring scientific integrity and promoting open inquiry, but it is also required and highly encouraged by funding agencies and publishers.
For many disciplines, research data are commonly deposited in and shared through a disciplinary repository. Review the Registry of Research Data Repositories to determine whether an appropriate repository is available to you.
Through the Georgia Tech Digital Repository, we are able to support the long-term preservation and sharing of openly accessible research data, but are unable to accommodate any proprietary or otherwise confidential data. Review the GT Library Data Submission Guidelines.Review the GT Library Data Submission Guidelines.
Archiving and preserving your research data involves more than keeping your data files on your lab server. In addition to capturing information about your data, you should consider the following:
GT Library Data Submission Guidelines
Datasets or other research outputs from any discipline may be deposited into the Georgia Tech Digital Repository for long-term access and preservation. Data submitted to the repository will be made available at no cost to the depositors or users. In addition, research datasets deposited with the Library can be registered with DataCite and assigned a DOI by request. Because the repository is for completed work, any submitted data should be in their final, publishable form – the repository is not storage or collaborative space for works in progress.
To deposit research data into the repository, complete the following:
- Ensure your data are eligible for deposit.
a. Content within the GT Digital Repository is openly accessible, so sensitive data should not be deposited.
b. Individual files should not be larger than 4GB (files may be zipped to this size). Multiple 4GB files may be attached to one repository record. For assistance with larger files, contact us at repository@library.gatech.edu
- Complete the required README file for your deposit, which will help future users understand and use your work.
- Use the repository submission form and either upload your files (including a README file) through the form or provide/request a shareable link, such as via Dropbox.
- Designate on the form if you would like to assign a Creative Commons license to your work or if you'd like your dataset registered with DataCite.