Data Management

This guide supports CSB and SJU researchers who want to effectively manage their data, learn about the research data life cycle, or understand current requirements from grant funding agencies for managing research data. The CSB and SJU Libraries can help you manage your research data. Once you contact your liaison librarian, your needs will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We will help you determine:

1. How to make your research data discoverable.
2. Where your research data will be stored.
   Options include our institutional repository (DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU); CSB and SJU IT Services file storage; or a discipline-specific repository. For more information, click on the “Data Repositories” tab in the sidebar navigation.
3. The best long-term storage format for your research data.
   In general, archived file formats should be non-proprietary; unencrypted; uncompressed; open; interoperable; documented standards; common usage within your research community; and standard representation.

Why is research data management important?

1. Archiving and providing access to your data benefits you, other researchers, and the broader scholarly community.
2. Many funding agencies require data management plans to ensure future access to grant supported research data.
3. In order to ensure long-term access to research data, you need to actively and intentionally plan the storage of, and access to, data sets.

A data management plan helps you to...

1. Comply with sharing mandates and meet copyright compliance.
2. Preserve data successfully and ensure that your data will be accessible and usable in the future.
3. Clearly document and provide evidence for your research.
4. Create and maintain a permanent archive of the data that supports your published findings.
5. Improve access to your publications.
6. Increase the impact of your research with data citation.
7. Support open access, which further benefits interdisciplinary research.

Much of the content for this guide was reused or adapted from Boston College's "Data Management" LibGuide. I am indebted to Barbara Mento and the rest of BC's Data Management Support Team for giving me permission to repurpose their content.