Data Management Planning Tool More Responsive to Researchers’ Needs
The University of California and several partners
have released a new version of a free tool that helps researchers and
their institutions create effective data management plans required by
the federal government.
The DMPTool v2
aids researchers with this critical component of research practice
required by agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and
National Science Foundation (NSF). Under the 2013
Office of Science and Technology Policy directive, this requirement
will expand to nearly all federal agencies within the next year.
With funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, DMPTool project
partners built a tool that guides researchers in creating plans that
meet an array of funder requirements and provides embedded
assistance and suggestions for successfully completing the plan.
Partners creating the second version of the tool include the California
Digital Library’s UC Curation Center (UC3), the University of Virginia
Library, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Library, Purdue Libraries, the Smithsonian Institution and DataONE.
“This innovative technology was created by a
talented group of colleagues working together,” said Patricia Cruse,
Director of UC3. “This highlights the importance of collaboration in the
success of complex projects such as this.”
DMPTool v2 was built in response to users’ requests
for an array of new features, including increased functionality for
plan creators and administrators. Plan creators can now collaborate with
colleagues, get institution-specific help and
easily share their plans publicly or within their institution.
Institutional administrators can easily customize their plans with local
branding, templates and assistance tailored to the institutions.
“I'm
looking forward to the increased functionality of the latest version of
the DMPTool, which will help researchers at my university win more
grants,” said Stephanie Wright, data
services coordinator for the University of Washington Libraries. “I’ll
also use it to strengthen the relationship with our university’s Office
of Sponsored Programs, and advance our conversations on institutional
data management policies.”
Use of the DMPTool has grown to 115 institutions
that have configured their campus single sign-on or customized the
technology for their users. Participating organizations are located
across 40 states and the District of Columbia, with
California leading nationally with 20 participating organizations.
This press release was issued by UC’s Press Room, June 3, 2014:
