Overview

 

For Researchers

ANDS helps researchers to organise and manage their research data, promote and share it with other researchers, and locate other research data in Research Data Australia. We primarily engage at the institutional level, however, we can also assist individual researchers through our Publish My Data and Identify My Data online services and ANDS' Guides about issues in data management and sharing.

If you have research data that you would like to share, please contact us. We can put you in touch with other people at your institution, or discuss potential approaches, depending on the scale and type of data. ANDS for researchers: More>>

For Institutions

Improving the management of Australian research data is a core ANDS priority. This Research Data Management Practice Guide, prepared by Mercury Project Solutions, outlines the roles and responsibilities of hosting institutions and individual researchers in respect of data management.

This Data Management Practice Guide [link here], prepared by Mercury Project Solutions, outlines the roles and responsibilities of hosting institutions and individual researchers in respect of data management.

The table below sets out fundamental elements that institutions will need to consider in formulating their data management framework and strategies.

Institutional policy & procedures	IT infrastructure (hardware & software)	Support services (people & advice)	Managing metadata
Policies & procedures which cover:	Infrastructure in place to support:	Resources to support:	Activities to support:
Overview   Managing research data Data sharing and re-use Storage Retention and disposal Access Intellectual property and licensing Ethics Funder requirements Collaborative research projects Records management Examples of policy and procedures	Overview   Network capability Identity mangement Trove AAF Storage Research Data Metadata stores RDSI Tools  Visualisation Collaborative ANDS software for reuse NeCTAR Data capture ANDS data capture projects Data security mechanisms File format support High Performance Computing NCI Pawsey Super Computing Centre	Training of researchers in Data management planning Discovery and access Data re-use Data citation Data publication Awareness, outreach and marketing Upskilling of support roles Data interviews Librarians, IT, ANDS Projects Exposure of data in Research Data Australia Data curation Appraisal of collections (PDF) Identification of datasets National Collections Preservation & sustainability Examples of data management toolkits	Creation of metadata records for: Discipline requirements Preservation requirements Research Data Australia -Content Providers Guide Metadata exchange & crosswalks Administrative metadata Statistical information  Metadata standards  Vocabularies Examples of Institutional metadata stores

Further Readings, Examples and Resources

Australian

• The Queensland University of Technology provides a Data Management Guide together with local information about storage and archiving.
  
  
• Griffith University's eResearch Support Services provide a Data Management Support Service . On this page you can find a downloadable version of their Guidelines for Research Data Management.
  
  
• The University of New South Wales provides a Procedure for Handling Research Material & Data which in turn links to their Research Code of Conduct.
  
  
• The University of Newcastle provides a Research Data and Materials Management Procedure. Underpinning this Procedure are the University's Responsible Conduct of Research Policy and Research Data and Materials Management Policy.
  
  
• University of Queensland's Library blog has put together a very good sumary of JISC's Managing Research Data program report [PDF 1.7MB].

International

• The Digital Curation Centre in the UK provides an extensive digital library of resources covering all aspects of data management, curation and preservation.  They are aimed at audiences from the novice to the expert.
  
  
• The University of Edinburgh's Information Services web site has a set of web pages written as guidance for university researchers on research data management, sharing and preservation

• NZ Government principles for managing data. 'On 8 August 2011, government approved new principles for managing the data and information it holds. They have been developed to ensure high quality management of the information the government holds on the behalf of the public.'
  
  
• The National Statistical Service has produced material on DATAfitness, which includes information on good data management practice, including understanding and managing metadata, sharing data, and understanding the quality of data.
  
  
• The UK Data Archive provides advice on data management and sharing. ‘This suite of web pages aims to provide data creators, data managers and data curators with best practice strategies and methods for creating, preparing and storing shareable datasets.' They also have a stand-alone publication Managing and Sharing Data available for download.

• Review of Data Management Lifecycle Models Research Report by Alex Ball, 2012 - University of Bath
  

Discipline Specific

• Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving, (4th ed, 2009) from the International Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is a comprehensive guide to best practice in the management of data in the social sciences.

• The Environmental Sciences Division of the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory provides the discipline-focused Best Practices for Preparing Environmental Data Sets to Share and Archive.

• Department of Mechanical Engineering data management plan requirement specifications from the University of Bath
  
  
• UK Economic and Social Data Service

 

ANDS publications:

• ANDS Guide to Data management planning - ANDS Guide (recommended introduction)
• Metadata (Awareness level) - ANDS Guide
  
• The Data Curation Continuum - ANDS Guide
  
• What is Research Data? - ANDS Guide
  
• Metadata Storage Solutions
• Research Data Policy and the Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research - ANDS Guide
  
• full list of ANDS Guides

Feedback

We are keen to get feedback on this page. If you have any comments, constructive criticism, suggestions for improvements or additions, please write to guides@ands.org.au.