A Proposal to use Data Management Records for Sustaining Institutional Research Data Governance

With research data gaining importance, institutions are required to manage research data responsibly. In general, data management plans, DMPs, are required for the confirmation of proper research data management. However, as DMPs are merely plans, they cannot be held as evidence of proper research data management. This presentation proposes using data management records, DMRs, to sustain institutional research data governance and materializes the idea by devising an institutional research data management policy of the National Institute of Informatics (NII), hereinafter the policy, around this concept. The policy was drafted by a Working Group (WG) set up within NII. The WG made it a core principle that the policy should be a manifesto for institutional research data governance which is to be sustained under the partnership of the institution and the researchers. DMRs, along with the DMP set up by researchers for each research project, are to be shared between these two parties. DMPs and DMRs need to align with legal and ethical terms to form the basis of institutional compliance. This thought experiment shows that DMRs can be leveraged to form institutional research data governance. However, it also shows that the setting of DMPs and archiving of DMRs may become of heavy burden for researchers if done manually. We plan to devise a DMP/DMR tool that will partly automate the setting of DMPs and archiving of DMRs. Toshiyuki Hiraki's presentation will discuss the core function of this tool. Those interested in DMPs and research data governance should attend the presentation.