Data Management Plan (DMP)

What is a data management plan (DMP)?

A Data Management Plan describes the data and metadata gathered through a research project. It includes information about the data files, plans for data storage, and rules for sharing data.

Research data is the data created or generated as part of a research project and exists in many formats including numeric data, text, transcripts, images, video and audio recordings. Research data management describes the activities researchers perform as they create and save their research data.

In the spirit of good data stewardship and funding agency requirements the adoption of Research Data Management (RDM) practices are increasing worldwide. In Canada a handful of funding agencies require researchers to apply RDM practices to their data to ensure it is comprehensive and accessible long-term.

Why is it important to properly manage your data?

Most researchers today work with a lot of research data, and without proper data management it can be difficult to keep track of everything!

Proper data management can make it easier for you to:

• Find your files
• Keep track of different versions of your data
• Organize and compile information at the end of a project
• Reproduce your work (if required for a journal or patent)
• Pass on your work to another researcher
• Share your work
• Satisfy grant requirements
• Satisfy journal requirements
• Satisfy research ethics board requirements 

This guide would not be possible without Eugene Barsky's (Research Data Librarian, UBC Library) generosity and UBC's Research Data Management Data Guide.