Research Data Management: Data Management Best Practices

Data management best practices enable researchers to properly organize, document, and store research data files, resulting in more easily discoverable and reusable data, while addressing funding agency requirements for transparency and reproducibility of research methods. Use the Table of Contents at left or the tab drop-down menu above to see a quick list of best practices by topic.  There are also many resources online to assist the researcher in learning these best practices; links to major resources are provided throughout this section.

UC Santa Barbara Library 

• Data Management Best Practices Checklist
  A checklist designed to help you evaluate your data management activities within your research projects by providing a list of common data management best practices

Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE)

• DataONE Best Practices
  A list of tips for effectively managing research data at all steps of the data life cycle

Digital Curation Centre (DCC)

• How-to Guides and Checklists
  Overviews that "...provide working-level knowledge of curation topics"

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

• Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving (HTML)
• Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving (PDF)
  This extensive guide covers all aspects of data management from proposal development and project startup through data analysis and sharing.  Our UCSB campus contact for ICPSR is librarian Stephanie Tulley.

Michigan State University

• Research Data Management Fundamentals (PDF)
  Quick handout covering key best practices of data management at all stages of the data life-cycle

 University of Massachusetts Medical School

• New England Collaborative Data Management Curriculum
  Seven modules with presentations, questions, self-assessment, and activities for learning to manage research data