NEWS
A new template for data management plans is now available in DMPonline, an online tool where you can easily write your data management plan. The library will help you if you have questions about research data or need support in developing a data management plan.
Text: Saga Nylund
Umeå University's template for data management plans (DMP - data management plan), which was approved by Vice-Chancellor in 2019, can be downloaded as a document under legal framework on the university's website. The template is also embedded in the DMPonline service, which contains templates for data management plans from various funding bodies and other organisations. A new UmU template is now available in DMPonline, based on the existing template but with the questions divided into sub-questions. Unlike the first version where the questions have free text answers, the new template has multiple choice answers. The new template also adapts to the answers you give. If you select an option as the answer to a question, more questions may appear that you need to answer. These questions would not have appeared if you had chosen the other answer option instead.
– The new version of the template provides more guidance for the researchers, says Carolin Anna Rebernig, librarian in the library's research data team, which has developed the new template. The team currently offers support to researchers on research data issues and guidance in the process of writing data management plans. Among other things, they organise workshops on how to write a data management plan in DMPonline.
Share your data management plan
As an employee at Umeå University, you have access to DMPonline and can create an account free of charge. DMPonline contains a number of different templates for data management plans you can choose from, depending on the requirements of your funder. If you need a data management plan for your research project, you can easily create and share your data management plan with colleagues in the tool. In addition, it is easy to update your plan during the project in case your funder requires you to submit different versions of the plan. You can find all Umeå University templates together with DMP templates from funders and other organisations in DMPonline when you log in. The question-based template is available in both Swedish and English, as well as in a version specially adapted for researchers at the Chemical Biological Centre (KBC).
The library offers support in research data management
As the requirements for research data management increase, the support that the university and the university library offer to researchers becomes more and more important. It is therefore of great importance to inform about the level of expertise in research data issues and the support available at the university. The library's research data team is targeting researchers at the university who are awarded research funding during the autumn, with the aim of establishing close contact with them throughout the research project and informing about the library’s research data support. The research data team has contacted researchers who are receiving grants from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, VR), and will contact those who receive grants from Formas soon. Both funding bodies announce their research funding decisions in late autumn and require a data management plan to be written for the project.
– Umeå University's template in DMPonline is adapted from Science Europe's guidelines for data management plans, which meets the requirements of the Swedish Research Council and Formas, Carolin Anna Rebernig says, adding that the new template will facilitate the entire process for researchers. The aim is also to evaluate how the new template is used and adjust it if necessary.
