Research Data Management (RDM)

What is research data?

Research data is information that is collected and generated in the process of or as a result of research and is required to be properly managed by both the researcher and the institution.
Specifically, the following information is included. The scope of data to be managed and published should be determined in accordance with the circumstances of each department or field.

Primary data collected, generated or observed as research material
Data generated by processing or adding information to primary data, or data generated by analyzing primary data, etc.
Records created during the collection and generation phases of the above data (experimental notes, field notes, questionnaires, etc.)
Evidence data of information contained in research results, such as papers and lecture materials
Physical materials used in the research (samples, specimens, etc.)

Significance of research data management and publication

Although some researchers may have a cumbersome image of research data management, it has the following significance and benefits for the researchers themselves.

Proper management of research data means that you are in a position to verify that your own research is being done correctly, and this protects your research in the sense that you can assert the fairness of your own research.
In addition to journals, a major trend toward commercialization of research data by commercial publishers has begun worldwide, and there is a growing need to compete with them. Keeping your research data under your control protects your data and your research activities.
For individual researchers, laboratories, research projects, etc., establishing basic rules for research data management and properly storing, using, and sharing the data will lead to more efficient research.
The value of the research itself is enhanced when the research data is made public and available to a large number of people.

Four requirements for managing, storing, and publishing research data

Submission of a Data Management Plan (DMP)

In order to ensure that research data can be properly managed from the implementation phase to the end of the research, funding agencies are now requiring the submission of a Data Management Plan (DMP). In the case of Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, submission of a DMP is scheduled to become mandatory for all research categories from FY2024 when applying for grants.

Research fairness

From the perspective of addressing misconduct in research activities, improving soundness, and ensuring transparency, management, storing, and publication of research data are required. Kyushu University has established “Guidelines for Research Data Storage” and, in principle, the period of preservation of research data that serves as the evidence for a paper is 10 years after the publication of the paper.

Disclosing evidence data in submitted papers

Many journals now require in their data policies that evidence data be preserved and published in trusted repositories.

Openness of research data

In the global trend of open science, there is a growing social demand for openness of research data. In Japan, the “Sixth Science, Technology, and Innovation Basic Plan” sets forth the goals of accelerating data-driven research and developing research activities with the participation of diverse actors such as citizens through the management and utilization of research data based on an open and closed strategy. The promotion of open science is becoming increasingly important and inevitable also due to the COVID-19 pandemic.