Conclusion of research project

Reflection and reviewing

The time has come to review the data management plan (DMP) and reconnect to the variables that has affected the research project throughout the process.

Examples of questions to consider

• Does the practicalities of the project research data management correspond with the DMP, or are there practical adjustments to be made in relation to the original plan?
• Does the project’s research data, in its current state, fulfill the criteria that are recommended or required by law or by potential external funding bodies?
• How well does the data management correspond to the policies and recommendations of the university?
• Are the research data already in such a state that it can fairly easily be described and made accessible within the framework of the chosen archive or repository, or does it need further processing and revision?
• Does the plan for final data storage hold up or are additional or alternative solutions necessary? Is the planned storage solution still the best?
• Are there any new factors to consider, for instance ethical issues or additional restrictions that need to be taken into account?

Preparing research data for the conclusion of a project

It is time to prepare and transfer project data to long-term storage. All research data underlying the results of the research must be stored in a safe and sustainable manner.

The data also need to be well documented and structured in a way that makes it possible to access and understand the data long term - regardless of potential restrictions or limitations to access. To do this is also a way to facilitate own reuse of the data, if it turns out to be suitable for future work and studies.

If the research data management during the project has been thought through, structured and well documented during the project, there is already a solid ground for the concluding administration. If not, the process need to be reviewed and reconstructed from scratch in order to implement proper data descriptions.

Manage data (SND)

Organising data during and ongoing project

As open as possible and as restricted as necessary

A common misunderstanding is that accessible data within the framework of the FAIR principles need to be published open access. This is not true. The access to data, according to the FAIR principles, should be as open as possible and as restricted as necessary. However, the degree of accessibility and the conditions for gaining access to the data must be clearly communicated by way of metadata descriptions.

Level of accessibility

FAIR data

Share data in a FAIR manner (SND)

To register and describe research data

In order to follow the FAIR principles, high-quality metadata descriptions are crucial. Such descriptions make data understandable and accessible for humans, as well as machine readable.

Researchers affiliated with the university may register data in the Swedish national data service (SND) national catalogue for research data, in a way that make their research output more visible and possible to find. It is not necessary to store the research data with SND in order to register it in the catalogue, even though storage might be possible in some cases.

Metadata

The SND national research data catalogue

Portal to information and login to register research data in the SND national research data catalogue:

Describe and share data (SND)

Support

When publishing metadata in the SND catalogue, the library can offer advice and support. We also perform quality control of entries to the catalogue. Among other things, we review whether the registration meet the FAIR principles and the requirements set by SND for publishing in the catalogue.

It is also possible to contact SND directly for advice and support.

Contact the library

Book professional training and researcher consultations

Contact SND

To choose secure, sustainable and accessible solutions for final storage of research data

When concluding a project, research data must be managed in a way that is secure and sustainable over time. The university’s legal officers, Registry and Archives and the IT specialists at ICT Services and System Development can help with finding and assessing solutions for long term storage. They can also assist with finding resources and information about:

• information security
• information classification
• legal status of research data
• personal data processing
• GDPR and legal counselling.

Technical aspects that support secure, sustainable and accessible storage of research data are described within the FAIR principles. For guidance concerning final processing of research data, resources such as "Records management plan – conducting research" can be of help. You find the document on the page "Archiving research material" on Aurora.

Departments that process particularly sensitive data often have their own structures and procedures in place to protect data from unwanted access, and to ensure good data security.

ICT Services and System Development

Legal aspects in research (Aurora)

Archiving research material (Aurora)

Storage, catalogue, repository and archives – what is the difference?

Information resources

The Swedish national data service (SND) provide information resources for researchers on research data management:

Manage data (SND)

Describe and share data (SND)

Contact SND for information, advice and support when working with research data management.

Contact SND

More information on links and contact information to various resources and on how the national infrastructure for research data management is organised can be found here:

Organisation and contacts 

The Swedish research data infrastructure