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Data Management Plan: DMP101

This guide introduces what a research data management plan (DMP) is, its content, the rationale of writing a DMP, and resources on DMP.

DMP101

This DMP101 introduces DMPs from the perspectives of the seven question words: why, who, how, whichwhen, what and where.

Why do we write DMPs?

Why do we write a DMP?

  • To meet funders' requirements
  • To plan ahead for human and financial resources
  • To save time in the later stage of a research project
  • To ensure research data are managed according to the FAIR data principle
  • To identify any weaknesses early on in a project
  • To provide a record of what a researcher intended to do

Who are responsible for writing DMPs?

Principle Investigators and research team are responsible for writing DMPs. They may consult funding agencies and knowledge transfer department in their institutions for comments. They may also seek advice from the data repository of their choice in order to meet the repository requirements. 

In CUHK, researchers may contact:

How to write a DMP?

Many funding agencies provide DMP templates. These templates are often available on some online DMP writing tools. Even if your funding agency does not have a template, you may also refer to some general templates, such as the one by Digital Curation Centre.  It is therefore recommended to write a DMP with a DMP writing tool.

Two popular online DMP writing tools are DMPTool and DMPonline. DMPTool is supported by the University of California Curation Center, while DMPonline by the Digital Curation Center from the UK.

Which tool shall I use?

To support CUHK researchers, the CUHK Library has developed DMP service using DMPTool. CUHK staff and students can sign into the platform with institutional login using OnePass credentials. 

Benefits of using the DMPTool:

  • Easy sign-in with CUHK OnePass credentials
  • Can explore the DMPs shared internally by other CUHK members
  • Can seek technical support on DMPs writing
  • Can support the University to understand the research project areas of CUHK members
  • Can link your DMPs to our CUHK Data Repository when DMPTool supports the connection of DMPs to other data repositories in the future

Enjoy the benefits by creating a DMPTool account with your CUHK email.

When do we write a DMP?

We write a DMP at the proposal or project planning stage, before the collection of data. The DMP may form a part of the proposal submitted to a funding agency.

Data life cycle

 

What are included in a DMP?

A DMP usually covers:

  • data collection
  • documentation and metadata
  • ethics and legal compliance
  • storage, preservation, and archive
  • data sharing
  • responsibilities and resources

 

For details of these section, please refer to "Content of DMP".

Where to deposit a DMP?

DMPs created in proposal stage should be updated throughout the research cycle, particularly at the end of a research project. The content should align with how data have been managed during the research process. The updated DMP will be kept on the DMP repository (e.g. DMPTool), linking to the datasets deposited in a data repository, and made publicly available, where appropriate.