Research Data Management: What is Research Data Management?

RDM Data Services

 "Research data management (or RDM) is a term that describes the organization, storage, preservation, and sharing of data collected and used in a research project. It involves the everyday management of research data during the lifetime of a research project (for example, using consistent file naming conventions)."  Source: University of Pittsburgh

The importance of effective Research Data Management (RDM) and sharing practices in research is nowadays highly recognized by funding bodies, governments, publishers, and research institutions. The commitment to the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable (FAIR) principles (Wilkinson et al., 2016) is not only a requirement by funders, but it is also one of the key principles of the global Open Science Movement, which incorporates Open Source Software (OSS); Open Educational Resources (OERs), Open Access (OA), etc. that are all fundamental to the concept of “Open Knowledge”.

Managing research data is usually an integral part of the research process, so you probably already do it. Most of the activities should be familiar: naming files so you can find them quickly; keeping track of different versions, and deleting those not needed; backing up valuable data and outputs, and controlling who has access to your data. (https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/how-and-why-you-should-manage-your-research-data) Accessed 11th June 2020

• Research intensive universities need to demonstrate that their research environment is fit to support high-quality research. RDM is a key component of a strong research environment and ensures the reproducibility of research findings. Pressure from funders is growing all the time. Previously funders responsible for distributing public monies asked only that research publications should be made open access, now they expect researchers to share their datasets, and re-use and re-purpose those of others.
• Funders ask for formal data management plans and expect the sector to provide the services and infrastructure to support these.
• In times of increasing accountability, publishers in some fields are demanding access to the data that underpin published work. The data must be accessible and meaningful to others so that work can be verified and replicated.
• With clear evidence that data is stored and managed responsibly the university will be less likely to suffer reputational damage.
• RDM is simply good research practice, documenting datasets and curating them will ensure long term access and long term benefits to the original researcher and the global research community