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Research Data Management: Data Sharing & Publishing

A data management plan (DMP) is a written document that describes the data you expect to acquire or generate during the course of a research project, how you will manage, describe, analyze, and store those data, and what mechanisms you will use at the end

Data Sharing & Publishing

Introduction

Research data can be published in trusted, discipline-specific repositories or an institutional research data repository. North-West University uses the Figshare platform for its research data repository, on which North-West University researchers can publish their data.

North-West University

 

A growing number of funding agencies, foundations, and journals mandate data sharing, which has many benefits for individual researchers and the research community.

Sharing data:

  • Promotes discoveries
  • Increases research impact and citation rates
  • Supports validation and replication
  • Enhances collaboration
  • Increases returns from public investment
  • Reduces redundant research

Researchers should consider the legal and ethical issues involved in sharing (e.g. do they have consent to share participant data?). Please see more under Research Ethics.

They should also consider the potential for reusability of their data and whether outsiders will be able to understand it. There are some potential drawbacks to sharing. Ensuring data is fit to share may be time-intensive. Others could misuse or misrepresent a dataset. Data released during a project may not have undergone sufficient quality assurance. There may be an overlap of publications if data are released during or immediately following a research project.