Use the Research Data Management Checklist as a guide to help you develop a research data management plan for your research project.
Clearly defining your data will help you make decisions about how best to manage it, during the life of the project and once the project has been completed. It is important to record this detail to help you and subsequent users understand why and how the data was created.
Intellectual Property and Copyright
Ownership and rights issues for research data should be clarified at the very beginning of a research project, as such issues will affect any future storage, sharing and re-use of the data. Refer to the relevant ACU policies and, if your project is collaborative, discuss and document an agreement with all partners. Find out more about copyright and data in the Australian National Data Service's Copyright, Data and Licensing Guide (2018).
Providing plans for the storage and management of your data is important for data security and preservation.
Providing a plan for the long-term preservation of your data is important in order to meet regulatory requirements for the long-term storage and access to your data.
Data publication, sharing and re-use
Consider how the data will be used by yourself and others, both now and in the future as that will effect the way you manage your data now. Consult the Australian National Data Service's Ethics, Consent and Data Sharing Guide and the Sensitive Data: Publishing and Sharing Guide for more information.
The questions raised in the ACU Data Management Checklist highlight the range of issues you might have to consider in relation to your data. It may be helpful to document your approach for your own reference, for your collaborators' understanding, and for reporting to your research funders.
A data management plan that documents your data management decisions and defines who is responsible will help you. Go to the Create a Plan page of this guide for further help.
Library Research Services LibResearch@acu.edu.au
Research Support Services eresearch@acu.edu.au
ACU Research Ethics res.ethics@acu.edu.au