A Data Management Plan (DMP), is a living document that describes how research outputs will be generated, stored, used, and shared throughout a research project. It serves as a roadmap for managing data efficiently and securely, helping prevent data loss and facilitating data sharing to make research more FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).
The content and format of each data management plan depends on guidelines from the funding agency, but the main components that are consistent and need to be included in any DMP regardless of funding, are:
Who manages what data and code
File formats, metadata, and data descriptions
Storage solutions and backup procedures
Long-term data preservation after project completion
How others can access and use the data
Financial planning for data management activities
Depending on your project's funding source, the components and details of a DMP can vary. However, you can start your DMP using resources funding agencies and CMU Libraries provide.
SPARC shared this community resource for tracking, comparing, and understanding U.S. federal funding data sharing policies. Visit this link or click the image below to see the list and DMP requirements organized by funding agency.
DMPTool is an online platform providing ready-to-use templates for creating data management plans to be used in grant submissions for diverse funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Department of Defense, and many more. Visit dmptool.org and sign in with your CMU credentials to get started! We also offer several sample DMPs, created by our Research Data Services team, which you are free to use as guides for your data management plans. You can view these under "My Dashboard" and scroll towards the bottom of the page to the section titled "Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Plans."
DMPtool is quick to learn and navigate. Here is a short tutorial to help you get started.
If you are unsure of the data management policies or practices best suited for your research, or if you have any other questions, please contact the University Libraries Data and Publishing Services team.
The CMU Libraries is happy to announce that it is strengthening it's commitment to support FAIR, ethical, and well managed research by offering a review service for data management plans (DMP), also called data management & sharing plans (DMSP).
A data management plan outlines how a project’s data will be collected, processed, analyzed, described, preserved, and shared during the course of the project and after the publication of results.
In August 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memorandum on public access to federally funded research. This memorandum requires federally funded research to include data management plans describing how the data used in the research is going to be made publicly available.
If you are a researcher at CMU conducting federally funded research, your work will be subject to these policy changes, effective no later than 2025. Whether you are initiating a new research project or continuing an existing one, it is beneficial to have a Research Data Management plan that aligns with the new policy changes. This will not only streamline your research cycle process but also make it more sustainable.
To get access to this service you can submit a Data Management Plan draft via the "request feedback" option included in the DMPTool platform or by scheduling a consultation with our Research Data Services (RDS) team via Libraries website/Email and we will get back to you with feedback for your DMP (see fig 1).
Please note that feedback might take up to a week.
Fig. 1. Workflow for the Data Management Plan Review Service
For more information or questions contact Alfredo González-Espinoza (agonzal3@andrew.cmu.edu)