Research Data Management

Research data management at the University of Bolton

The University adopts the following policy on Research Data Management:

• Research data will be managed to the highest standards throughout the research data lifecycle as part of the University’s commitment to research excellence.
• Responsibility for research data management through a sound research data management plan during any research project or programme lies primarily with Principal Investigators (PI) and Directors of Studies (DoS).
• All research proposals must include research data management plans or protocols that explicitly address data capture, management, integrity, confidentiality, retention, sharing and publication.
• The University will provide training, support, advice and where appropriate guidelines and templates for the research data management and research data management plans.
• The University will provide mechanisms and services for storage, backup, registration, deposit and retention of research data assets in support of current and future access, during and after completion of research projects.
• Any data which is retained elsewhere, for example in an international data service or domain repository should be registered with the University.
• Research data management plans must ensure that research data are available for access and re-use where appropriate and under appropriate safeguards.
• All research data must be deposited in the University’s own respository (located at: ub-ir.bolton.ac.uk/). The University’s Electronic Resources Librarian should be consulted in the first instance and assistance will be given to enable the data to be uploaded.
• The legitimate interests of the subjects of research data must be protected.
• Research data of future historical interest, and all research data that represent records of the University, including data that substantiate research findings, will be offered and assessed for deposit and retention in an appropriate national or international data service or domain repository, in addition to the University repository.
• Exclusive rights to reuse or publish research data should not be handed over to commercial publishers or agents without retaining the rights to make the data openly available for re-use, unless this is a condition of the funding agency.

How to write a Data Management Plan

We recommend the use of DMPOnline to create a data management plan. View our guide to DMPOnline. 

Learn more about research data management on Researcher Academy

Find out more about research data management in these Researcher Academy modules: Research data management pathway on Researcher Academy

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