As a state administrative authority, Umeå University is obliged to archive research material. Therefore, your research data must be archived regardless of whether you make it available or not. Here, you can read about how the constitutional principle of public access to public documents affects your research data and understand how the head of department is responsible for archiving. You will also find links to the Research data policy and the Retention and deletion plan for Umeå University.
More information about preserving, retaining, and disposal of research data.
Your research data are public documents
Material that is part of your research work are considered research documents. In research data management, this may involve, for example, research data, descriptions of these (metadata), and data management plans (DMP).
As Umeå University is a state administrative authority, the constitutional principle of public access to public documents applies. This means that your research documents become public documents that must be retained indefinitely, except in cases where a disposal decision is made. In principle, all public records can be disclosed. However, information may be classified as confidential, thus prohibiting its disclosure. Here, you can read more about public documents and confidentiality:
Umeå University has adopted a research data policy stating that research data should be made available for others to access. Depending on legislation, ethics, and good research practice, your data can be made available to varying degrees. However, your research data must be archived regardless of whether you make it available. Umeå University’s Retention and deletion plan provides detailed information on which research documents and data should be archived.
The head of department is responsible for archiving
Each department is responsible for archiving its research documents; generally, this responsibility lies with the head of department.
The department must also have an archive coordinator and registrar.
The head of department is responsible for making decisions on deleting research data.
The metadata description should always be preserved, even in cases when data is deleted following a decision.
Find your archive coordinator and registrar
Each department is responsible for archiving the research documents produced by its researchers. Always contact the department’s archive coordinator and registrar early in the research process to obtain information on how to archive your research material.
Get help from Umeå University’s archivists
You can read more about archiving and decisions on deleting research data on Aurora. There, you will also find contact information for the University's archivists.
You must find solutions for the long-term storage of your research data pending a decision on deletion or preservation. ITS can help you find a suitable storage solution.
You will find more information in Aurora, the page is in Swedish but if you click the links you will find some information in English.
