Research data management is a fundamental part of the research process. Here we have gathered information that you can use to get answers to questions about how to create a data management plan, where to store your data, how to securely share your data and where to find other people’s data.
The research data you collect shall be kept securely, protected from unauthorised access and data failures. Research data is a public document in the vast majority of cases and the University has an archival responsibility as the principal of the research. Data from publicly funded research should be made open access whenever possible based on the motto “as open as possible and as closed as necessary”.
Quick answers about research data
What is research data and what is a data management plan?
Research data is the information you as a researcher collects and/or processes to analyse as part of a research study. Depending on your subject, data may include measurement results, interviews, audio recordings, video, images or text.
A Data Management Plan (DMP) is a formal document that describes how data materials should be handled during a research project and what should happen with this data afterwards.
Why is research data management important?
Open access to research data is part of a common EU transition to an open science system. Many research funders require you to write a data management plan and that data should be made available after the end of the project. Some journals want you to make your data open for review during the peer-review process as well as for data to be attached to the article.
Open access to research data contributes to increased transparency in research as it is easier to access the data on which studies are based. As a researcher, you have the potential to access existing data, which will save you time and money. The University is given a clearer mandate to securely preserve and make research data available. Laws and agreements governing which data can be disclosed should still be respected.
Data should be as open as possible and as closed as necessary.
Who can help me with research data management?
You can always contact our support function called DAU (Data Access Unit) with questions about research data. The support function consists of librarians, archivist, IT staff and legal counsel. We can help you set up a data management plan, support information classification of your data, answer legal questions and more. Write to researchdata@miun.se and we'll answer you soon!
How do research policies and legal requirements affect you as a researcher?
In the 2016 Research Policy Bill, the Government stated the objective that research data from all publicly funded research should be as open as possible. The Government tightened the target for 2020 in Bill 2020/21: by stating the year 2026 as the final date for the transition to open science in Sweden. This means that the research conducted with grants from the state shall make the project’s research data as open as possible and as closed as necessary.
The development of research data requires considerable resources, both time and money. By enabling the sharing of research data, these resources are used more efficiently. Open access to research data also opens for more scrutiny of research results. When reviewing research becomes easier to carry out, by being able to easily download data from repositories or by sending a request to the relevant university, the quality of the research is strengthened.
