What is a Data Management Plan (DMP)?
A DMP is a formal document that details:
- the strategies and tools you will implement to effectively manage your data during the active phase of your research;
- the mechanisms you will use for preserving and appropriately sharing your data at the end of the research project, and;
- a “living” document that can be modified throughout your research project to reflect any changes that have occurred.
Getting Help
Email yul_rdm@yorku.ca to book a consultation or receive email support from the Libraries’ research data management team. The team will also review and provide feedback on draft DMPs.
Why do I need a Data Management plan?
- Aligning with best practices: The broader research community benefits from accessible, reusable and shareable research data. Creating a DMP will support you in making sure your data management practices align with key RDM frameworks such as the FAIR principles.
- Funding requirements: Some funding agencies require researchers to submit a DMP at the application stage. For example, some Tri-Agency grants now require DMPs. More information is available:
- Journal data sharing requirements: Preparing a DMP for your research project will help support you in sharing the data from your research project while also aligning with data sharing policies for specific journals.
Creating a DMP using the DMP Assistant
The DMP Assistant is a national, online, bilingual data management planning tool developed by the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the Alliance) in collaboration with host institution, University of Alberta. The DMP Assistant supports researchers in preparing DMPs. This tool is freely available to all researchers and provides access to templates that support researchers in developing a DMP using a series of key data management questions, supported by best-practice guidance and examples.
Getting started with the DMP Assistant:
- Create an account on the DMP Assistant website (enable single sign-on with your Passport York)
- You can access templates in the DMP Assistant or preview a set of public templates from the Alliance.
Useful templates within the DMP Assistant:
- The Alliance Simplified Template (Funding Application Stage): developed to support researchers in creating a DMP when applying for grants that require a DMP at the application stage.
- The Alliance also developed a rubric you can use to assist with the development of a good quality application-stage DMP.
- York University Libraries has created a simplified DMP template for the funding application stage of a research project, and a more comprehensive template for a generic DMP for York researchers. Both templates contain embedded guidance for York-specific supports and resources.
- To access either York University Libraries DMP template, please log into the DMP Assistant.
- Click the “Create a plan” button on your My Dashboard Page. This will open a new page.
- Select "York University" into the primary research organization field.
- You will now be able to access York’s Simplified template and Generic DMP template.
DMP Examples
When developing a DMP, you may find it useful to review example DMPs to better understand how to best write specific sections. The following websites provide links to high-quality DMPs: