Research Data Sharing and Management: An Introduction
Sharing scholarly research data and making it widely accessible has many important benefits. A great deal of research data has been lost in the past by not being well managed, organized or kept available in accessible formats.
In recent years the Government of Canada, Canada's Tri-agency funding agencies, and many global organizations have strongly committed to open science, open scholarship, and open access to research data. Canada's commitment is outlined in the document Seizing Canada's Moment: Moving Forward in Science, Technology and Innovation.
Quotes:
“In order to pursue important research questions, scientist and scholars are increasing looking to harness large and complex data systems ("big data") and adopt "open science" policies to foster collaboration” - Government of Canada.
Research data must be well managed in order to be shared. That is to say, data needs to be be carefully organized and described in the initial planning stage in order to be effectively used by other researchers.
Research data management includes planning for collection, documentation of research data, as well as arranging for data access, and the long term storage, and preservation.
This process includes:
Source: How to avoid a data management nightmare, by Karen Hanson, Kevin Read & Alisa Surkis, New York University Health Sciences Library under a CC-BY license.
Common Questions
What if I haven't finished my research yet?
You can set an embargo date on deposited data to prevent others from having access until after your research is complete and published. In the meantime, your data is safe, well-documented, and available exclusively to you and your research team.
Do I retain Copyright?
Depositing data into a repository does not generally affect copyright ownership. Depositors can specify conditions with which secondary users must compy to when accessing deposited data. Data are normally shared for research and teaching purposes only, and not for commercial purposes.
What kinds of research data can be deposited?
We consider a wide variety of data types and sources from all disciplines. Contact us with any questions.