Managing research data

Good data management is an intrinsic part of doing good research. This page gives a brief introduction to some key concepts.

A data management plan can help your research project to run smoothly and efficiently, and ensure you can get the most out of your data. All University of Oxford researchers are encouraged to create a DMP as part of good scholarly practice.

Certain types of data require special handling. This may be to prevent or minimise potential harm, to comply with legal requirements, or to protect commercial interests.

It's important to have good processes in place for collecting or creating your data, and for working with it during the active phase of your project. This will enable you to get the most out of your data, and will also help maximise its value for the longer term.

Guidance about storing your live research data, how to manage data when working collaboratively, and how to keep your data secure and backed up.

Your research data is valuable. It's thus worth devoting some time to thinking about what you might preserve after the end of your project, and how you will do this. Planning for data preservation should start at as early a stage as possible, to enable the appropriate steps to be taken.

Sharing data at the end of a project makes it available for reuse by others. This is increasingly being encouraged by both funders and the research community more generally: it is very rare for the full potential of a research dataset to be fully mined in one project, and sharing helps maximise the value of the data.