Data policy

An institution’s or consortium’s data policy is the total of procedures and guidelines developed for data management, data archiving and the sharing of research data. Such a policy aims to guarantee the advantages of research data sharing, while at the same time preventing the (possible) risks. 

         


In order to get an idea of a general data policy, some examples: 


What is usually included in a data policy? 

  1. the intention to submit all research data to the relevant public repositories as soon as possible after their creation 
  2. the promise that the institution will comply with (inter)nationally recognised exchange formats 


3TU.Datacentrum does not have a data policy yet. It is a young data portal which has first focused on infrastructure. The TU Delft’s doctorate regulations include the obligation for PhD students to submit their dissertations to the TU Delft Repository before receiving their doctorates. It is expected that in the next decade the same will apply to the underlying datasets. 

For NWO funding in the Arts and Social Sciences a so-called data contract8 was drawn up (document9). This contract includes agreements about archiving data and making them public and is intended to guarantee the quality as well as the availability of the data in the long term. Funding is not paid by NWO until a data contract is signed. 


Data Seal of Approval 

A data policy is a policy document of an institution itself. Additionally, data portals can be assessed by others and receive a Data Seal of Approval, developed by DANS. Each data portal can be considered for this seal of approval. It shows that others consider you to be a trusted digital repository and believe that research data stored there will still be found and shared in the future. The next step is an ISO 16363 certificate. DANS is working on that for DANS EASY10. 

In short to apply for the data seal, research data must meet the following criteria: 

                

The data seal of approval is based on the OAIS reference model for an open archival system. 3TU.Datacentrum agrees with the principles but does not (yet) have a seal of approval. There are about 16 guidelines which you have to comply to visibly and that involves a lot of work. 3TU.Datacentrum is still in a phase when acquisition takes priority, following the conviction that a filled data portal without a seal of approval is more attractive than an empty portal with a seal of approval. “Show what you can do” is the credo. 

However, the guidelines provide a good framework to check if the systems are in order. The working processes (describe how you preserve, what you do in case of a calamity, how you handle software/hardware and data migration, how long you guarantee access) are not fully described yet. However, there is a full description of the formats which are less likely to have to be migrated again in the short term. This fits with the phase that 3TU.Datacentrum is in at the moment. 

This is a list of institutions that already have a Data Seal of Approval11. 

 

1. BBSRC. (2010). BBSRC Data Sharing Policy. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/web/FILES/Policies/data-sharing-policy.pdf
2. STFC Scientific Data Policy. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from http://www.stfc.ac.uk/Resources/pdf/STFC_Scientific_Data_Policy.pdf
3. DCC. (2011). UK institutional data policies. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/institutional-data-policies
4. ECA&D. (2011). Data Policy for ECA&D and E-OBS. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from http://eca.knmi.nl/documents/ECAD_datapolicy_v5.pdf
5.World Data System. (2010). WDS Data Policy. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from http://www.icsu-wds.org/organization/data-policy 
6. KNAW. (2011). Handvat voor het opstellen van een KNAW-datanotitie. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9Ccd1URnalvMjhjOGMzMjQtNjEyOC00NDI0LTgzYWYtNGY5Zjc3YTdiNTA0 
7. Technische Universiteit Delft, Colleges voor Promoties. (2010). Promotiereglement. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from http://home.tudelft.nl/fileadmin/UD/MenC/Support/Internet/TU_Website/TU_Delft_portal/Onderzoek
/Promoveren/Promotiezaken/Reglementen_en_formulieren/doc/Promotiereglement_TUDelft_NL_2011_09.pdf
8. NWO, DANS. (2011). NWO-DANS datacontracten. Informatie voor projectleiders over het verplicht beschikbaar stellen van data uit onderzoek met steun vanuit de NWO subsidieprogramma’s Geesteswetenschappen en Maatschappij- en Gedragswetenschappen. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from 
http://www.nwo.nl/files.nsf/pages/NWOA_6PVA9J/$file/Informatiebrochure%20NWO-DANS%20Datacontracten_versie_maart_2011.pdf
9. NWO, DANS. (2011). NWO-DANS Datacontract. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from 
http://www.dans.knaw.nl/sites/default/files/datacontracten_hetcontract_jan_2011-2.pdf
10. DANS. (2011). Easy ondergaat testaudit ISO certificering. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from 
http://www.dans.knaw.nl/content/categorieen/nieuws/easy-ondergaat-testaudit-iso-certificering
11. Retrieved 8-12-2011 from http://assessment.datasealofapproval.org/seals/

Twitter
Loading..