Supporting resources for and conceptual reflections on data management planning in Norway

Abstract

Academic libraries face a growing demand to support researchers with research data management (RDM) and, alongside increasing funder requirements, the writing of data management plans (DMP). We are sharing insights from the 1-year project Data Management Plans: Support package for Norwegian higher education libraries (Oct. 2023-2024). The project facilitated an aligned understanding of DMPs, mapped DMP stakeholders in Norway, and developed a support package with resources for both researchers and support staff.

With their raising popularity, DMPs have been highlighted as an educative tool as well as bearing the potential to act as a hub for seamless integration of data management services. Alongside conceptual reflections on user needs and dimensions that influence DMP complexity, the project therefore mapped DMP stakeholders in Norway and their expectations, machine-actionable DMP (maDMP) coverage, and funder requirements.

It is important that researchers experience writing a DMP as useful process on the way to good RDM routines and publication of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) research data, and not as pure administrative burden. Helpful guidance is essential. Yet, keeping up with developments, guidelines and resources in a fast-paced field can be challenging for support roles. In response, the project build a knowledge base that includes annotation in a Norwegian context of the Science Europe DMP guidance, which is recommended across funders.

For researchers, the project developed a discipline-agnostic DMP template, implemented in the DMP-tool Data Stewardship Wizard, accompanied by a website with supporting information. A challenge we experienced was to balance complexity in projects and different stakeholder interests with a manageable questionnaire for users across various disciplinary traditions. To not expose users to irrelevant questions, we apply conditional follow-up questions and project phases. In addition, a filtering function allows us to adjust complexity and provide distinct questionnaires catering to different user groups, without having to maintain parallel template versions. Furthermore, an independent set of guiding questions for RDM considerations in grant proposals was developed. Several organizations which were not part of the project group contributed to testing the pilots, ensuring the relevance of the template for large and small institutions.

Summarizing, the project has produced three products: 1) a knowledge base for support staff, 2) a DMP template, and 3) supporting information for users. All project results are available under an open license and all generated text resources are maintained through an open contribution and maintenance process. We encourage the Norwegian research data community to actively take part in maintenance and further development of these open resources. We believe that the results and insights from this project will be valuable for institutions in and outside of Norway.