What is a data management plan?

A Data Management Plan (DMP) is a project document which describes the data (or similar evidence) that a project will collect, how it will be stored during the project, how it will be archived at the end of the project and how access will be granted to it where appropriate.

At the start of a project, you should consider what evidence you will be collecting as part of your research. You will need to plan how you will look after it during the course of the project, and what you will want to share and/or archive after the project is over.

Other common names for a Data Management Plan include:

• Data Management and Sharing Plan
• Access and Data Management Plan
• Statement on Data Sharing
• Data Access Plan