8 Developing a Data Management Plan

A data management plan, commonly referred to as a DMP, is a written document that outlines a researcher's long-term and short-term plans for generating, handling, describing, organizing, processing, analyzing, preserving, and sharing the data resulting from a research project.1 A DMP includes detailed procedures for data collection; all aspects of organization and processing before the data are shared or disseminated; and a plan for how the data will be released so that they can be found and accessed in perpetuity, with proper attention paid to relevant legal and ethical concerns. The DMP is the road map or guidebook for how the data will be handled during every phase of the research life cycle. The very act of writing a DMP can be enormously beneficial to researchers as it requires them to think through the logistics, ethics, and expenses associated with carrying out their proposed research. Though the purpose of writing a DMP is to establish a prescribed program for managing data, researchers should understand that they will need to review their DMPs periodically and revise them as necessary (this will be discussed in more detail in section 3).