Research Data Management

Discipline-Specific RDM Guidance

It's important to note that different disciplines often have different approaches to RDM in terms of, e.g., metadata standards, how and where data are shared, what documentation needs to be shared, etc. If you are working on inter- or trans-disciplinary projects, you may need to work with your partners to determine what the best approach is for your work.

A good place to start is the Data Curation Network's list of primers, which includes guidance to many common data formats, as well as a very good guide to sharing human participant data.

Below is a selection of other guidance on research data management for some specific disciplines, types of data, and approaches to research. If you don't see anything related to your discipline, or you have anything you'd like to add to this list, please contact the RDM Librarian.

Community-Based Research

• Community Research Data Toolkit

Guidance for RDM in the context of community-based or community-led research partnerships. Developed by Canadian community organizations, researchers, RDM librarians, and others.

Earth and Environmental Sciences

• DataONE Best Practices
  Guidance from the Data Observation Network for Earth

Health Sciences

• Preparing raw clinical data for publication: guidance for journal editors, authors, and peer reviewers
  Guidance from BioMed Central

Humanities

• Data Primer: Making Digital Humanities Research Data Public
  A made-in-Canada overview of data curation and data mangement best practices for the digital humanities. Additional materials can be found on the Research Data Management for Humanists Open Science Framework site
• Sustainable and FAIR Data Sharing in the Humanities
  From ALLEA (All European Academies)
• Digital Humanities Tools and Resources
  From MIT Libraries
• The Open Handbook of Linguistic Data Management
  From MIT Press
   

Life Sciences

• MDAR (Materials Design Analysis Reporting) Framework
  MDAR is a standard used by several major life sciences journals for reporting research. Many of the items in this standard involve the management of research data, so you may find it useful to review the checklist in conjunction with developing your DMP.

Social Sciences

• ICPSR Guide to Social Science Data Preparation
  Guidance from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
• Data Archiving and Dissemination (survey data)
  Guidance from the International Household Survey Network
• Data Documentation Initiative
  An international standard for describing the data produced by surveys and other observational methods in the social, behavioral, economic, and health sciences. DDI is a free standard that can document and manage different stages in the research data lifecycle, such as conceptualization, collection, processing, distribution, discovery, and archiving.