All researchers should be aware of the updated requirements from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The 2022 Nelson Memo is an announcement from the OSTP requiring federal government agencies to update their public access policies with a provision to make federally funded research publications and their associated data (where applicable) publicly accessible, for free, upon publication, in repositories designated by the government agency (i.e. “agency-designated repositories”). In addition, data repositories for the public sharing and access of associated research data will be determined by the agencies in consultation with researchers. These new rules will go into effect by December 31, 2025.
This means that all researchers engaging in projects supported by federally funded grants should plan accordingly to collect, organize, and share their data and results in a publicly accessible manner. For more information, visit the OSTP website or contact the Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship at KSL to discuss the matter.
What is research data management?
Research data management (RDM) comprises a set of practices—including file organization, documentation, storage, backup, security, preservation, and sharing—which affords researchers the ability to more quickly, efficiently, and accurately find, access, and understand their own or others' research data.
Why should you care about research data management?
RDM practices, if applied consistently and as early in a project as possible, can save you considerable time and effort later, when specific data are needed, when others need to make sense of your data, or when you decide to share or otherwise upload your data to a digital repository. Adopting RDM practices will also help you more easily comply with the data management plan (DMP) required for obtaining grants from many funding agencies and institutions.
What should you do if you need assistance implementing RDM practices?
Whether it's because you need discipline-specific metadata standards for your data, help with securing sensitive data, or assistance writing a data management plan for a grant, help is available to you at CWRU! In addition to consulting the resources featured in this guide, you are encouraged to contact your department's liaison librarian, the Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship, or the Office of Research Administration. The box at the bottom right of the page has further points of contact.