RDM: a briefing for Health Sciences

Editor's Notes

1. Very many definitions out there – to some extent what counts as data depends on the field of study as researchers you’ll know what data your project creates/collects but here are some definitions … University definition of research data. Uni of Bath = Research data are defined as any material created or collected for the purposes of analysis to generate original research results, irrespective of the format of data. 
2. CARROTS – RDM = good research practice Good data management does require an investment of effort – but ultimately it’s something that can actually save you time, by helping you work more efficiently. You want to complete your research project to the best of your ability, but with minimum stress – and good research data management is one of the tools that can help you to do that. For example: Good research data management – setting up an organizational system that works for you, and ensuring everything is properly filed or labelled to enable re-identification and retrieval – can make life a lot easier. Your data might ultimately be of use to other researchers. Having everything well organized and properly labelled also has the potential to save you a lot of time at the end of a research project, when it comes to deciding what to do with your data – but more of that later. Citations - data sharing evidently pays off as a citation boost has been evident in every discipline examined so far
3. Lots of benefits STICKS - University and research funders place requirements on the management and sharing of research data – both consider your research data to be a valuable asset.
4. STICKS - University and research funders place requirements on the management and sharing of research data – both consider your research data to be a valuable asset.
5. In April 2014, the NIHR revised its policy on open access to cover not only published peer-reviewed research articles, but also the research materials – such as data, samples and models – that underlie them. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) All NIHR researchers are required to prepare and submit a statement (Data Management Plan) on how underlying research materials, such as data, samples or models, can be accessed. Data Sharing Although the NIHR expects researchers to consider and plan for data access, the policy does not require that data must be made open, nor does it specify how long data must be retained for. There needs to be a data access statement about the availability of the data in the research publication In this case the University requires data to be preserved for at least ten years.
6. PIs/project leads are responsible for ensuring good data management for their projects.To meet Uni RDM Policy/most funder policies
7. University recommends DMPs Departments may mandate – e.g. SPSW (Chemistry for PhD students) Most funders require – grant application (NOT NIHR yet) – recommend the creation of Data Management Plans (DMPs) for research projects, so that both time and resources are considered for data management activities (e.g. the preparation of datasets for deposit in an appropriate repository) at an early stage I think the key point here is that it is the actual process of planning is the most useful thing. The plan itself may change, things do not always go to plan, but taking that time to think about how you will manage your data is invaluable and can save you some time in the long run.
8. DMPonline – no template for NIHR as isn’t required by can select ‘no funder’ and work on a generic template Template for postgraduate (OR unfunded) projects + prompt sheets to guide you in how to answer the questions/who to contact to get advice
9. organising [can you find what you need when you need it?] = consistent and meaning file naming (version control) - Trying to find a data file that you need which has been stored or named incorrectly or inaccurately can be both frustrating and a waste of valuable time. storing and backing up data [so you don’t loose it] – store working data on University network filestore file formats = What file format will be most useful to you as you work with the data? What file format will be best for the future if you or others want to use the data? What software do you have access to? documentation [making your data intelligible to you (and to others)] = what’s obvious now may not be in a few months, years etc. You need to ensure that you have enough info about it to enable yourself (and others) to make sense of it. Research data must be: accurate, complete, authentic and reliable identifiable, retrievable and available when needed kept safe and secure, avoiding data loss kept in a manner that is compliant with legal and ethical obligations, and (if applicable) funder requirements disposed of securely.
10. Embargoes/restrictions on access and redactions are allowed- but it is very important that researchers check against funder requirements.
11. ***- It is not expected that researchers will have the responsibility for curating completed and archived datasets. Retained data should either be held by an appropriate subject repository or the Information Directorate.*** ESRC = UKDA subject = OpenfMRI https://openfmri.org/ - is a project dedicated to the free and open sharing of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets, including raw data. Publisher = Journal of Open Psychology Data – upload data to the journals JOPD Dataverse Repository www.re3data/org = register of research data repositories - PURE should be used to record datasets that support publications and/or which are considered to be of long-term value and therefore held for long-term retention.   - The PURE entry should include a short description of the data and terms and conditions of access (the metadata). If the data itself is stored in a subject repository (e.g. UK Data Archive), the location must be listed.   - If data is not stored in a subject repository, adding the metadata into PURE will result in the researcher being contacted by the Information Directorate with the view to arranging appropriate data storage. A DOI can also be created at this stage if required for use in a data access statement/citation within a publication.   -
12. The University provides Research Data York RDM service for - the publication of research data – long-term storage/access
13. Embargoes/restrictions on access and redactions are allowed- but it is very important that researchers check against funder requirements. Data transferred to Research Data York which is open will be give a CC BY licence - permits others to use, adapt and share the data (including for commercial purposes) as long the original depositor(s) and the University as the data provider/publisher are acknowledged. Can also take data which need to have retricted access but you need to let us know – preferably in advance
14. University requires publicly funded data needs to be discoverable with enough metadata recorded to allow potential re-use.
15. Only five fields are mandatory (Title/People/Date made available), & (Managing organisational unit/Publisher) pre-populated Data to be transferred to Research Data York – need Description / Access to the data / Legal/Ethical issues (Data protection/Ethical/Commercial or other Sensitivities) Data deposited elsewhere – mandatory field plus link/DOI to the datasets record in the respective repository [no datasets retained/recorded in PURE from Health Sciences – 220 datasets recorded]
16. Only five fields are mandatory (Title/People/Date made available), & (Managing organisational unit/Publisher) pre-populated Data to be transferred to Research Data York – need Description / Access to the data / Legal/Ethical issues (Data protection/Ethical/Commercial or other Sensitivities) Data deposited elsewhere – mandatory field plus link/DOI to the datasets record in the respective repository [no datasets retained/recorded in PURE from Health Sciences – 220 datasets recorded]
17. Only five fields are mandatory (Title/People/Date made available), & (Managing organisational unit/Publisher) pre-populated Data to be transferred to Research Data York – need Description / Access to the data / Legal/Ethical issues (Data protection/Ethical/Commercial or other Sensitivities) Data deposited elsewhere – mandatory field plus link/DOI to the datasets record in the respective repository [no datasets retained/recorded in PURE from Health Sciences – 220 datasets recorded]
18. Public (PURE) records appear in the York Research Database – providing a permanent and public record of York’s (retained) datasets - describing the data, how it may be access and any constraints that may apply.
19. Required by University and funders Data access statements are required for most publications that are publicly-funded They are a requirement of many funders' data policies, e.g. ESRC Research Data Policy - Data citation is also central to the policy. "All publications based on data resulting from an ESRC grant will specifically include information on where and how the data can be accessed, ideally via a formal citation.“ and are a requirement of the RCUK Policy on Open Access [PDF] which states: "[3.3] (ii) As part of supporting the drive for openness and transparency in research, and to ensure that researchers think about data access issues, the policy requires all research papers, if applicable, to include a statement on how underlying research materials, such as data, samples or models, can be accessed.“ If depositing your data with an external service (funder/subject/publisher repository), you should ask the repository for a persistent identifier (such as a DOI) to cite within your published paper. Transfer data to Uni (Research Data York) we will provide you with a DOI – links to the metadata you gave (in PURE) describing the data in detail
20. Lindsey Created by the Library’s Research Support Team, the pages provide guidance on good practice in managing research data and link to established tools and sources of advice. Includes: DMP template if want to copy and use it in Google Docs or Word. Speak to your supervisor/department may require you to develop a DMP – not a one off activity
21. Lindsey Data Protection (RDT3012) - To increase an understanding of working with personal data in research and data protection principles. Integrity and Ethics (RDT5062) - This session will consider what is involved in being an ethical researcher, in order to conduct research to the highest ethical standards. Know your (Copy)Rights: protecting your own work and re-using other people’s (RDT4013) - Participants in this session will explore the legal terms and licences which permit the re-use of third party materials, consider strategies for requesting additional permissions and review the licences available for releasing your own material.
22. RDM 101, an online tutorial designed to provide you with an introduction to research data management (45 mins). Available to staff and research postgraduates. Complete the tutorial in the VLE