Manage and share data

When describing and making your research data accessible, you are fulfilling your obligations for the following requirements:

• Deakin University's Research Conduct Policy (clause 14-16)
• the Australian Code for Responsible Conduct of Research (The Code), (clause 2.5.2) states that research data should be made available for use by other researchers unless this is prevented by ethical, privacy or confidentiality matters
• The Code (clause 2.6.5) also requires you to maintain a catalogue of research data in an accessible form
• the ARC discovery grants funding rules, 2013 & 2014 (clause 13.3.2) states that the Final Report must outline how data arising from the Project has been made publicly accessible where appropriate
• the NHMRC notes that if a researcher is not intending to deposit the data from a project in a repository within a six month period, s/he should include the reasons in the project's Final Report.

Creating a descriptive record of a research data enables:

• sharing of your data, helping to raise your research profile
• increased impact and recognition of your work
• increased citation of your data, acknowledging your contribution
• the creation of new opportunities for collaboration and exchange
• future research to build on your data
• transparency and supports research integrity
• better management of research data
• recording of data collected at a specific point of time that cannot be repeated
• Deakin research datasets to be harvested by Research Data Australia (RDA)
• validation of your findings by others
• support for the responsible communication of research results
• reuse by researchers in other fields for different purposes
• discovery into the future by others.

You can ensure valuable data collections are made publicly accessible either in the early stages of your research or when you have completed your research.

Concerned about your publishing options?

You can still provide the metadata to your work and restrict access to your data by placing an embargo until you publish, or consider releasing your data successively, for example as you publish your results.

You set the rules.

Determining access to data in the early stages of a project will help establish where the data will be stored and under what conditions the data may be accessed.

You set the rules for access to your data. Access at Deakin University is provided either by a direct link to the data store or through the contact details you provide.

What type of permission or consent should be considered?

You will need to obtain written consent from participants for the further use of their data, or the researchers seeking access to the data will need to obtain a waiver of consent under the applicable legislation.

Ensure that where data must be stored in identifiable form, that appropriate consent is obtained from the original participants for the reuse of their information.

Access to personal information is governed by complex laws and guidelines. In this case you should contact an Ethics Advisor to discuss the proposed access and obtain tailored advice. If you have questions about reuse of your data and the ethics approval change process, first check the appropriate section of Human Research Ethics Guidelines.

Deakin University's Research Conduct Policy (clause 16) supports the dissemination of research data as freely as practicable, subject to privacy, contractual and intellectual property requirements.

In addition, The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research states that research data should be made available for use by other researchers unless prevented by ethical, privacy or confidentiality matters (clause 2.5.2).

There are valid reasons why you may not be able to share all or part of your data, such as:

• confidentiality
• legal issues
• ethics
• sensitivity issues
• to protect future publication of your results.

You may need to de-identify data in order to share it, but must ensure that it may not be re-identified when used in conjunction with other related data files.

Some research data may need to remain confidential because of:

• contracts with sponsors
• to protect Intellectual Property
• to protect privacy or confidentiality of research participants
• to protect the copyright of others.

Copyright provides protection to your research data and exists when a work, expressed in a certain form, is created.

For copyright purposes, data compilations such as datasets and databases can be protected by copyright if it consists of words, figures or symbols; for example

• tables
• spread sheets
• field notes
• photographs
• sound recordings - material objects
• is either a literary work or has a degree of originality.

Who is the copyright owner?

Generally under copyright law the creator of the work, which may be two or more people (joint authors), is the copyright owner.

If the rights are retained and not assigned or transferred to a third party, as with a collaborative research project or publishing agreement, the copyright remains with the creator/s.

If the data has been produced in the course of your work, the University may be the copyright owner and you should refer to the University's Intellectual Property Statute.

The copyright owner may determine if the data can be shared or reused. Discover the benefits (below) of why you should share your data.

The protection of your data can be covered by the following:

• a Copyright Act
• a Creative Commons (CC) licence that you have applied to your data
• an AusGoal licence - developed specifically for research material when a Creative Commons licence cannot be used.

Important first steps include determining whether the data is protected by copyright and then to consider applying a CC or AusGoal licence.

To make informed choices and create licences, further detailed information is available from ANDS Copyright and Data, AusGoal and Deakin University Library's Open and Access and Licensing website OPAL.

The Australian National Data Service (ANDS) identifies these practical reasons for sharing:

• research results can be verified
• research into multi-disciplinary issues like climate, water, health and energy can draw data from different fields
• data that cannot be duplicated are preserved
• time series can be created
• duplication of effort can be avoided.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) lists the goals that are achieved by sharing data as:

• reinforcing open scientific inquiry
• encouraging diversity of analysis and opinion
• promoting new research, testing of new or alternative hypotheses and methods of analysis
• supporting studies on data collection methods and measurement
• facilitating education of new researchers
• enabling the exploration of topics not envisioned by the initial investigators
• permitting the creation of new datasets by combining data from multiple sources.

Data preservation is critically important as the cost of acquiring, processing and analysing data in the first place can be very high. There are also various institutional and funding body requirements that may require data be preserved for certain periods:

• the Deakin University Research Conduct Policy (Clause 14-28) outlines the required minimum periods for retention
• the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research Section 2 specifies the minimum period for retention of research data, with actual periods determined by the specific type of research.

It is strongly recommended that, wherever possible, research data be stored in the University's data store or network storage, ensuring it is backed up regularly and readily available to team members when required. It will also ensure long-term access by providing persistent identifiers.

Sometimes personal hard drives or external storage devices such as DVDs or USBs suit are more convenient than network storage. If you do choose to rely on non-network devices, always ensure you store the master copy of your data on the network, as it is all too easy to lose portable devices, or the data corrupted.

You should prepare for data preservation from the start of your project. The earlier you start planning, the easier it will be to ensure your data remains durable and accessible into the future.

Here are some things to consider:

File formats

• file formats may become obsolete over time
• it is therefore important to ensure the file formats you use to store your data are widely adopted, have a history of backward compatibility, and an open specification
• a guide to current robust file formats may be found at the UK Data Archive.

Software

• like file formats, software may also become obsolete
• choose software that is widely used and well supported; and ideally, which uses file formats that are widely adopted.

File store media

• store your data on a network drive, to ensure the data is properly backed up and can be migrated to other media if needed.

Version control

• when multiple members of a research team have access to the same data files, it can be difficult to track changes from one person to the next. This makes version control very important
• if the software you are using does not support version control (e.g. Microsoft Word), you may need to set up explicit rules to ensure version tracking of files
• this could include keeping a single master copy of the files, including date/times as part of the file names.

Back-up strategies

• if you are not using network storage, ensure you regularly move your data onto fresh media, to guard against media degradation
• ensure you have a robust back up strategy that includes off-site storage. There are many tools and services available that will perform automatic backups at scheduled times; for instance Windows' own built-in tools
• regularly restore and check files to ensure that your backup strategy is working as expected.

Ownership and access

• allocate responsibility for data preservation to a member of your research team
• determine who will require access to your preserved data files and who will have ongoing responsibility and ownership of the data to avoid lost data if staff move on.

Retention

• determine how long your data should be kept, in compliance with the Deakin University Research Conduct Policy (Clause 14-28) and Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research Section 2.

File organisation and file naming conventions

• organise your files in a tiered folder structure, with folder and file names clearly descriptive of the contents
• this helps to ensure particular files are easily located and specific data is more easily findable.

At any stage of your project, you can deposit your data in a data repository such as Deakin University's data store, Deakin Research Online (DRO) or a subject-specific data centre or archive. This can be a requirement of the funder or publisher of your research. Some examples of subject-specific archives include:

• Australian Data Archive
• BlueNet - the Australian Marine Science Data Network
• Dryad
• Earth-prints Repository
• Figshare
• Geoscience Australia Petroleum Data Repository
• Pangaea
• ShareGeo Open

The Deakin Metadata Store Project began in June 2012 and will conclude in June 2013. Funded by the Australian National Data Service, the project will implement a solution to enable Deakin researchers to describe their research data collections and make these descriptions available to a wider audience.

While the Seeding the Commons Project developed manual processes to capture descriptions of data collections, the Deakin Metadata Store Project will take this to the next level by automating the capture of information wherever possible and developing sustainable processes for the capture of research data collection descriptions.

The Project Board is made up of representatives from eSolutions, Deakin Research, the Library and the Faculties. This partnership is crucial to the success of the project.

The intended benefits of the project are to:

• increase the impact of the research that Deakin's researchers are undertaking improve opportunities for research collaboration enable Deakin's researchers to gain citations for sharing their data (where appropriate)
• raise the profile of Deakin's researchers
• assist Deakin's researchers to fulfil obligations as outlined in the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

The internally funded Research Data Management Project began in August 2012 and will conclude in August 2013.

While the Deakin Metadata Store Project will deliver the technology and processes to enable descriptions of research data collections to be developed and shared, the Research Data Management Project will deliver technology and processes to assist the researcher to effectively manage their research data by using central services that will ensure the security and longevity of their data.

This project will deliver:

• A Data Management Planning Tool to assist researchers to plan for the management of their research data.
• An enhanced research data store that automates the creation of share spaces for research data collections, integrates with the Data Management Planning Tool, has archiving capabilities, has built in file management tools, and allows the researcher to share their research data with a broader audience (where appropriate).
• A documented business process that clearly shows activities to be undertaken to manage research data at relevant stages of the research lifecycle.
• An online research data management guide.
• A communication and awareness program for researchers to encourage them and empower them to manage their research data effectively.

As with the Deakin Metadata Store Project, the Research Data Management Project Board is made up of representatives from eSolutions, Deakin Research, the Library and the Faculties. This partnership is crucial to the success of the project.

Concluding in May 2012, the Seeding the Commons project (funded by the Australian National Data Service) contributed to ongoing improvement in the capture, management and discovery of research data at Deakin University.

The Library has produced a Data Management toolkit for researchers, designed as a guide based on the Model Data Management Toolkit for Researchers (2008), Legal Framework for e-Research Project and Open Access to Knowledge (OAK) Law Project - QUT.

It is designed as a checklist - prompting you to answer a series of questions regarding ownership and rights relating to research data. This data management toolkit has been designed with researchers in mind. It provides guidelines on implementing a data management plan, and can assist you in ascertaining responsibilities in relation to managing your data.

Mantra is a free online data management training course that has been developed by the University of Edinburgh's data centre, EDINA. The course provides guidelines for good practice in research data management for researchers who work with digital data and would like to learn more about managing their research data.

Research Data MANTRA online course by Data Library and EDINA, University of Edinburgh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 UK: Scotland License.