We offer support for research data management to researchers of University of Eastern Finland. We help with creating data management plans, comment data management plans and offer support with DMPTuuli. We write guidelines to data management in collaboration with other specialists. We advise and train with issues related to data management and opening of research data. We gather the metadata of the research data produced by the researchers of the University of Eastern Finland from different national and international services to UEF eRepository. We promote reuse and data citation of research data with guidance and training.
Research data is the data produced or used during the research process. Research results are based on it. Data can be in various forms: numerical, texts, pictures, voice recordings, videos, survey data, software, source codes, measurements, samples, notes.
Data management is the set of practices that make your data easier to find, use and keep secure during the whole data life cycle. It is recommended to follow FAIR principles which mean that the data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable.
Data management plan (DMP) is a document which describes the actions needed to manage the data. With the help of a data management plan, a researcher can perceive the entire life cycle of the research data, diminish the risks related to it as well as ensure its ethical, secure and efficient use during and after the research. Even though it is possible to expand on the plan during the research project, the most important guidelines and principles must be contemplated on before the project starts. Besides the research organisations, an increasing number of research funders require a data management plan.The Publishing and Data Policy of the University of Eastern Finland requires that a research data management plan is made for the research at the planning phase. The data management plan (DMP) for external funding research projects in UEF (such as the Academy of Finland, Horizon Europe) must be sent to the university's data support for comments before sending it to the funder. Read more about UEF DMP process in Heimo (requires UEF sign-on).
Data management policy is a document which offers guidelines and facilitates data management for those using the research infrastructure.
DMPTuuli is a tool for writing a data management plan. It includes guidelines from funders and organisations and gives phase by phase instructions on how to create a data management plan. You can choose required guidelines in DMPTuuli when you start writing the data management plan. In DMPTuuli, you can work on the plan together with your colleagues. You can attach the completed data management plan to the funding application in required form (e.g. docx, pdf). Sign up and log in to DMPTuuli.
In the beginning of the research data management plan is often compact, about 1-2 pages, but it can vary according to different funders guidelines. As the research progresses, the DMP becomes more precise and the length may increase. Research funders and organisations can have their own guidelines in DMPTuuli. You can use funders DMP templates or general national template in DMPTuuli when starting to write a data management plan.
- UEF instructions for managing data side by side with national guidance.
- National guidance for data management planning is available in Zenodo in English, Finnish and Swedish.
- For sensitive and confidential research data there are additional instructions.
- Research infrastructures should describe the main principles of data management. Guideline to data management policy for data infrastructures.
Before beginning the research it is important to define clearly the tasks, responsibilities and rights related to data management for all participants of research project, in the data management plan or as a separate contract. Espesially the ownership of the data, rights to use and reuse must be agreed on. Also the resources for data management (including work contribution, expenses) must be planned beforehand.
Library’s research support specialists give training and guidance for writing a data management plan. Information about forthcoming trainings and support for data management plans from datasupport@uef.fi.
More information about research data management
Basics of research data management, training material (UEF internal use)
Data Management Checklist (Fairdata)
Legal and ethical aspects always affect to data management, i.e. how research data will be collected and processed, what kind of rights relate to the data, where data can be stored, how and to whom data can be shared. Research data can include sensitive information, such as personal data, sensitive personal data, sensitive species data related to endangered animals and plants or otherwise confidential data related to patents, national defense or trade secrets. It is important that the researcher identifies the juridical and ethical aspects and restrictions related to the research data and acknowledges them throughout the data management process.
It is advisable already in the early stages of the research process to find out the obligations imposed on the researcher by the different agreements, laws and instructions and how to take into account ethical principles, good scientific practice and legislation in data management. Describe the required actions and risk management in the data management plan.
If you are processing personal data during research, familiarize yourself with data protection. Describe in the data management plan the processing and storing of personal data and explain how the privacy of participants will be ensured, e.g. by anonymising or pseudonymising the data.
Notice informing the research participants about processing personal data. Data preserving and opening after the research must be taken into consideration as a part of the informing process. Consider what will be explained about storing the data and related personal data in it.
Find out the ownership and user right issues related to research data and notice their impact on data management and opening. It might be necessary to make agreements on data use at different phases of the research process, such as before, during and after the research. In addition, it is important to be aware that agreements may be needed for researchers, research groups, research organisations or between all of them. In contract research projects an agreement concerning the transfer of rights are signed. Guidelines for transfer of rights agreements in Heimo.
It is recommended to licence open research data with a licence that defines the sharing and reuse terms, such as CC BY or CC0 licence.
- Agreements related to projects (Heimo)
- Responsible Research (The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies)
- Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK)
- Research Ethics (UEF)
- Regional medical research ethics committee (Hospital District of Northern Savo, in Finnish)
Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data (free translation, 552/2019, English translation is not available) and research.
The Act has come into effect on 1 May 2019 and in accordance with the transitional provisions of the Act, the operating environments will take effect 1 May 2022. The aim of the Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data is to enable the efficient and secure processing of personal data stored in social and health care activities and for social, health, guidance, research and statistical purposes, and to combine them with the personal data of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Digital and Population Data Service Agency, Statistics Finland and the Finnish Centre for Pensions. The Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data determines the disclosure and use of social and health data in research.
The changes reported more widely on the secondary use of health and social data page.
Metadata is data that describes other data, and in this context, metadata means the descriptive information on research data. From the point of view of the researcher, collecting and preserving metadata is about documenting one’s own work and thus an integral part of the research process. It is best to start the systematic storing of metadata already in the beginning of the research, so that the research data’s metadata will be up-to-date and of good quality. Metadata is all the information needed to understand, interpret and utilize research data correctly. If metadata is not collected, the future accessibility and usability of a research cannot be guaranteed: in future it might not be possible to determine what the stored data is and why it has been collected. By storing diverse and high-quality metadata, it is possible to ensure the findability, preservability and future usability of the data and the research.
Metadata can be stored either together with the research data or to a separate file. For extensive datasets, using metadata standards is recommended. It is worth finding out if there is some specific metadata standard commonly used at one's own discipline. All the necessary metadata will be collected in accordance with the regulations and in a consistent form with the help of the metadata standards. What is essential is that the metadata can be located and identified in such a universal form that it will be legible also in the future.
The descriptive metadata can be stored e.g. to the Finnish research data finder service Etsin by using the Qvain tool (see Etsin - Add dataset - Qvain). Etsin contains information about the datasets and metadata, while the actual research data can be stored into a discipline-specific data archive or to a national or international research data storage service. Opening metadata is in principle always recommended to increase the visibility of the research also in situations when the actual research data can't be opened.
Metadata contains at least the following information:
- name of the research data
- authors and dates
- how the research data has been created and processed
- what is the purpose of use of the data and how it can be reused, i.e. the data’s usage rights and terms
- where the data has been stored to, under which file name and in which file format
- subject headings or subject cataloguing
- persistent identifier (e.g. DOI and URN)
Making a research project understandable - Guide for data documentation
Researcher must store research data safely throughout the research life cycle and take care of making the backups. Research data must always be handled according to information protection and processing instructions. Mainly protection level and size of data as well as the need for collaboration between organisations in data handling and processing affect the available storing options of research data. IT services of University of Eastern Finland produce most of the IT services and server resources used by the UEF researchers. Researchers can use also services provided by CSC - IT Center for Science for processing, storing and opening research data. More information about saving and storing research data during the research can be found in Heimo: Research data management during the research.
Preserving the research data after research should be planned already in the beginning of the research in a data management plan (DMP). The research data is preserved at least for a set period of time, taking into account all the case-specific aspects that regulate the preservation of research data. Guidelines about preserving research data after research in University of Eastern Finland instruct in defining the preservation times and places.
After the research, research data can be stored to closed environments or it can be opened to a varying degree for others to access and use through open data archives and repositories. Research data should be opened after the research always when possible. If the data can not be opened, it must be justified in the data management plan. Open availability of research data enables its reuse and the validation of the research. For a researcher, opening the data can be regarded as a scientific merit. Data repositories and other services for opening research data can be found on UEF Open Science webpages.
