E. Böker / CC BY 4.0

Funder Guidelines

Requirements for third-party funded projects

Which funding organisations require a DMP plan?

Most international funding organisations (research councils, trusts and funds) have established research data management guidelines which specify how to handle and manage research data. The general expectation is that research data derived from publicly funded projects are a public good and therefore should be made available to the public with as few limitations as possible.

Germany

Many German funding institutions (e.g. DFG, Volkswagenstiftung and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research) require information on how research data will be used and/or re-used after the end of a project. Smaller German funding organisations generally follow the guidelines of European programmes and/or the DFG. With regard to the publication of research data, the DFG stipulates the following in their 2015 Guidelines on Handling Research Data: "Research data should be made available as soon as possible. Data should be made accessible at a stage of processing that allows it to be usefully reused by third parties (raw data or structured data). To make sure this is the case, it must be ensured that access to the data is still guaranteed when, through publication, the rights of use relating to research data are transferred to a third party, usually a publishing house." The guidelines also give information on how to include additional RDM costs as well as the costs of making data available for re-use in a DFG proposal. More information on funding for RDM-related costs can also be found in this BMBF announcement.

Austria

Since the beginning of 2019, the Austrian Research Fund (FWF) expects funded projects to provide a DMP and open access to all research data that were collected and/or analysed using FWF funds: "Open access is mandatory for research data on which the research publications of the project are based. If […] open access to these data is not or only partially possible, this must be explained in the Data Management Plan.“

The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) emphasises the value of Open Science by naming a DMP as a suitable tool for learning about research data management in its recent calls. IKT der Zukunft calls by FFG have been requiring an obligatory DMP since November 2020, the first version of which has to be handed in with the proposal.

Switzerland

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) considers open access to research data as an essential contribution to the efficiency, transparency and reproducibility of scientific research. From the viewpoint of the SNF, research data should not just be thoroughly documented and archived, but also be made accessible as far as possible (see SNF Policy on Open Research Data)

In this context, the SNF has been requiring that a DMP be handed in with the project proposal for most of their funding programmes since October 2017. Unless legal (specifically copyright or data protection-related) reasons or other ethical concerns make it unfeasible to do so, data that underly research results or have been generated throughout the research process are to be made publicly available no later than the end of the research project.

Europe

European Commission funding programmes  - such as Horizon Europe -  require researchers to provide information in the form of a data management plan. Other funding criteria include the handling of the data according to the FAIR Principles which means that the data have to be findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable. 

Overview of RDM-related requirements by funding organisation

Federal Ministry of Education and Reserach (BMBF)

Requirements can vary depending on each programme and call. Support is available at your local research support and RDM departments. The following information is only a general overview:

  • DMP? The BMBF generally expects a re-use plan or information on how the data will be re-used.
  • Publish what? usually research results
  • Publish where? in a repository - depends on your funding programme!
  • Publish when? generally at the latest at the end of the project
  • Archive for how long? depends on your funding programme, but DFG guidelines for good scientific practice stipulating 10 years apply
  • Other requirements: depends on your specific funding programme
  • RDM costs: depends on the call

More information:

German Research Association (DFG)

  • DMP? Not obligatory, but it is recommended to give information on what data are generated that might be relevant for third parties in the proposal. This can be done within the work package plan, for example.
  • Publish what? research data, unless third party rights (especially data protection, copyright) are affected
  • Publish where? if possible on a discipline-specific, federal/international platform
  • Publish when? as early as possible
  • Archive for how long? At least 10 years for research data according to good scientific practice.
  • Other requirements: "Data should be made accessible at a stage of processing that allows it to be usefully reused by third parties (raw data or structured data). To make sure this is the case, it must be ensured that access to the data is still guaranteed when, through publication, the rights of use relating to research data are transferred to a third party, usually a publishing house."
  • RDM costs: "Project costs associated with making research data available for future reuse can be requested with your project."

More information:

Swiss National Fonds

  • DMP? Most funding programmes require a DMP. A first draft has to be handed in with the proposal. A final DMP has to be handed in at the latest by the end of the project. The DMP is not part of the project evaluation.
  • Publish what? research data that underly a publication unless legal (specifically copyright or data protection-related) reasons or other ethical concerns make it unfeasible to do so. These reasons have to be explained in the DMP. The mere mention of the data being sensitive is not sufficient.
  • Publish where? on any digital, non-commercial, scientifically renowned repository while applying the FAIR Principles
  • Publish when? as early as possible, at the latest upon publication of the related findings
  • Other requirements: Generally data should be maintained for ten years. The data have to be made publicly available in a timely manner, but at the latest upon completion of the project in order to facilitate reproducibility of the results and re-use, unless legal (specifically copyright or data protection-related) reasons or other ethical concerns make it unfeasible to do so.
  • RDM costs: Costs related to the upload (but not download), processing and validation (data stewardship) of data can be applied for with the SNF. The SNF reimburses costs up to a sum of 10,000 Swiss francs. This is not applicable to long-term data maintenance.

More information:

FWF Science Fund (Austria)

  • DMP? Yes, has to be handed in together with the proposal for an approved project. The final version has to be delivered to FWF together with the final report.
  • Publish what? all research data and comparable materials that are needed for reproduction and transparency of the results, exceptions can be made if legal or ethical reasons make open access to the data unfeasible. This has to be explained in the DMP as well as if no data are being generated or analysed.
  • Publish where? On a repository listed in re3data, a Core Trust Seal certified repository is recommended
  • Publish when? as early as possible, at the latest upon the publication of the related results
  • Other requirements: FAIR Principles as well as Science Europe’s Core Requirements for Data Management Plans have to be applied
  • RDM costs: Project costs associated with processing or archiving data as well as making them re-usable and openly accessible in a repository can be applied for.

More information:

Horizon Europe

Horizon Europe is the 9th EU framework programme and the biggest single funding programme for research and innovation worldwide. It will last 7 years, beginning in 2021 and is the successor programme to EU Horizon 2020. Detailed information is not available yet, however preliminary information and official announcements can be found on the EU Commission's funding and tender portal .

  • DMP? Required.
  • Publish what? research data, that are required to verify published results as well as all data that are earmarked for publication in the DMP
  • Publish where? on a trustworthy repository of choice, PID required, metadata must be available under a CC0 or equivalent license, data must be available under CC0 or CC-BY (or equivalent), publication on project website is not sufficient
  • Publish when? as early as possible, at the latest upon publication of the related results
  • Other requirements: All data most be handled according to the FAIR Principles, publication opt-outs are possible for specific reasons, RDM costs are eligible for funding, individual calls may contain additional specifications

More information:

European Research Council (ERC)

  • DMP? Yes, deliverable in month 6
  • Publish what? research data and programming code; all data needed to validate a related publication
  • Publish where? on a repository of choice, if possible discipline-specific; recommendations: Europe PubMED Central for the life sciences, arXiv for physics and engineering, no recommendations for the humanities and social sciences, PID required, data must be available under CC0 or CC-BY (or equivalent), publication on project website is not sufficient
  • Publish when? as early as possible, at the latest upon publication of the related results
  • Other requirements: all data must be handled according to the FAIR Principles, open data is mandatory unless copyright regulations, confidentiality agreements or other contractual regulations make it unfeasible; publication opt-out is possible under certain circumstances

More information:

Horizon 2020

EU funding programme running from 2014 to 2020.

  • DMP? deliverable in month 6 according to the provided template, updated version in month 18 and final version upon completion of the project
  • Publish what? research data and programming code; all data needed to validate a related publication
  • Publish when? as early as possible, at the latest upon publication of the related results
  • Publish where? on a trustworthy repository of choice, PID required, metadata must be available under a CC0 or equivalent license, data must be available under CC0 or CC-BY (or equivalent), publication on project website is not sufficient
  • Publish when? as early as possible, at the latest upon publication of the related results
  • Further requirements: all data must be handled according to the FAIR Principles, open data is mandatory, recommended licenses are CC0 or CC-BY, open data mandate only applies if project results are published, researchers retain the right to seek a patent or to keep the data secret for further research or development; opt-out is possible for certain reasons

More information:

Why you should use a DMP even if your funder doesn't explicitly require one

It makes sense to create and use a data management plan even if it is not required since it will help make a number of RDM-related aspects clearer. This does not mean that research data always have to be published. There are a number of reasons that might make a publication unfeasible, which then have to be explained in the DMP. This may be the case if there are plans for applying a patent, if the research is commissioned by a third party or if it is applied research that is meant to be commercialised. Data protection issues can be another concern.

Therefore, it is best to consider the following aspects from the beginning:

  • What kind of data will be created/collected?
  • How much storage space will be needed?
  • Who will have access to the data during, but also after, the project?
  • What publications based on the data are being planned?
  • Can the data be re-used?
  • Is there any reason, such as a pending patent, commissioned research, commercialization etc. that makes data publication unfeasible?

By systematically recording the answers to these questions in a DMP,  uncertainties and potential issues can be more easily identified and addressed early on.