PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT AT THE RECTOR S DECISION, 9 SEPTEMBER 2014

Transcription

1 PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH DATA MANAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ RECTOR S DECISION, 9 SEPTEMBER 2014 EXPERT OPINION OF THE ETHICAL COMMITTEE, 8 MAY 2014 APPROVED AT THE SCIENCE COUNCIL MEETING OF 26 AUGUST 2014 UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ Rector s decision on 9 September 2014

2 1 GENERAL TARGETS The target of the University of Jyväskylä is to be profiled as an internationally renowned research university and to ensure that its research infrastructure is of the highest level and fully functional. A high-quality research infrastructure comprises a controlled process for the management and reuse of research data. In its Research, Innovation and Infrastructure Policy , the University has set the target of developing its systems intended for the preservation and open access of research data. These principles describe the targets and actions for developing data management and creating a research data system in order to enable increased open access of research data. 1.1 Definitions/Glossary Data infrastructure Data access right Ownership of the data Data preservation status Analogue material Open data Digital data Digitising Physical items Log Metadata Technical solutions and services that support controlled data management during the whole data life cycle. The right to use, modify and/or forward data based on permission from the owner of the data or on a licence. The right to decide on the use of the data. As a rule, the ownership of data created at the University of Jyväskylä belongs to the University. The priority, time span and data protection class of data preservation. Paper documents, VHS tapes, compact cassettes, etc. Data or research material that is publicly available but may still be controlled through licences (e.g. the Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC prevents commercial use). Data that consists of bits. Conversion of analogue data to digital form using a scanner, a digital camera, etc. Physical items may also be digitised using 3D modelling. Objects as research data. Data transaction register maintained by a computer. The audit trail of data transactions is based on log files. Data that describes research material. Metadata is necessary 1

3 for the searchability and reuse of data. Metadata standard Long-term preservation Access management Data protection Data security Research data Standardised description of data. The standards may be general (e.g. Dublin Core) or field-specific (e.g. DDI for human sciences). Long-term preservation ensures that digitised and originally digital research data will be usable and understandable also for future generations. The National Digital Library is responsible for planning and implementing the centralised long-term preservation service. Technical solutions and services that provide secure data access for desired user groups. Event tracking is part of access management. The protection of privacy of individuals. Data management ensures that personally identifiable information is handled following principles and practices that comply with legal provisions. Protecting data from destructive forces, alteration or theft during the handling, storage and transfer of data. Material on which research is based. Research data management Handling of research data in different phases of the research process, from data collection to analysis, archiving and reuse. The handling practices are described in a data management plan (DMP). Research infrastructure An entity formed by research instruments, equipment, data and services. 2 THE OPERATING ENVIRONMENT OF RESEARCH DATA Research data refers to basic or refined scientific research data that is in a digital, analogue or physical format and on which research findings and results are based. Ethical sustainability is part of the operating principles of the University of Jyväskylä. Researchers and research team leaders, supported by administrative services, must ensure that research data is managed in an ethically sustainable way in all phases of the research process from planning, implementation, data saving and reporting to the preservation and possible further use of the data. National and international financers of research, as well as scholarly 2

4 publications, increasingly require that research data is open, transparent and managed in an ethically sustainable way. Special attention is paid to the data security and data protection of research data. The archiving regulations of the University, the archive formation plan that supplements the regulations, as well as the classification and processing instructions of confidential data, provide guidelines for processing both digital and non-digital data. 3 OPERATING PRINCIPLES 3.1 Responsibilities of data management Research data management and reuse enhancement are integrated with the work of research projects, research teams and researchers. The management of the department is responsible for the realisation of agreed operating practices. The leaders of research teams and projects must act so that the use of research data, as well as research results based on it, are always verifiable if necessary. Procedures must be adapted to suit the requirements of the discipline and research subjects. The mentioned responsibilities come into effect after the financial responsibilities resulting from the centralised storage system have been decided (see section ) Actions: The research team leader and other researchers in the team agree on which materials should be stored and opened to other researchers. An independent researcher operating without a research team must agree on data management with the head of the department and an employee writing a dissertation with his or her supervisor. In research projects and when establishing new research environments, the scientist in charge sees to it that a data management plan is created before starting the research. The plan, according to the guidelines of the Academy of Finland, shall describe the following: 1. how the project intends to obtain and use its research data 2. ownership and access rights of the data used and generated by the project 3. how the data produced by the project will be stored and subsequently made available to other researchers 4. how the data will be protected (if necessary). Faculties include data management costs in their operating and financial plans. University Services is responsible for the development of data infrastructure and operating practices. 3.2 Ownership and access rights of research data The ownership and access rights of data shall be agreed on when creating the data management plan, prior to the start of actual research. Depending on the situation, the concerned parties may include the University and its units, partner organisations, financers, research groups, researchers and, in human sciences, also the research subjects. 3

5 3.2.1 Actions: The transfer of rights agreement used at the University agrees not only on material resulting from research but also on the ownership and access rights of research data. The University s agreement templates that take research data into account must be used for jointly funded research, commissioned research and activity within research groups. Especially long-term data preservation utilises national services and, in some fields of research, European infrastructures. This enables broad and open access to data, depending on the level of publicity. 3.3 Data infrastructure and data security The data infrastructure comprises the digital, analogue and physical research data services and related technical solutions, as well as digitising services. In addition to storage and archiving services, the infrastructure comprises additional services for processing area-specific research data (especially for analysis, calculation and modelling). The infrastructure consists of services produced by the University and purchased from external service providers. University Services has the main responsibility for developing the data infrastructure. The management of data that includes personal information complies with the procedures of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) Actions: As a basic service, the University offers research teams a secure and protected data management infrastructure in which data is saved and described in compliance with standard processes and models. A server room that fulfils data security requirements and controlled and standardised data processes are the cornerstones of digital data security. The digital research infrastructure, and the research data infrastructure as part of it, is built as part of the University's overall architecture. The data management environments the University uses as part of the overall architecture (e.g. Dataverse, JyX, YouSource, GitHub) must support protected data management procedures. Access management, required by data security and data protection, is made part of data services. The data security classification and the preservation status of data (preservation time, preservation priority and access rights in particular) are added to the metadata. Special attention is paid to the data security and data protection of identifiable data specified in the Personal Data Act. Metadata must be supplemented with information on which practices of ethically sustainable data management the data has been subject to (e.g. statements of the Ethical Committee, a file description of scientific research, the information and consent forms of research subjects, nondisclosure agreements). The University's own data services are seamlessly connected to the services of external service providers (e.g. CSC, the Finnish Social Science Data Archive, the National Archives Service of Finland, discipline-specific data services) so that the external service providers are required to provide ethically sustainable practices in their services. 4

6 3.4 Handling and saving data In the handling and saving of data, the aim is to use standardised processes from the start of the research process to the archiving phase. Practical guidelines for the processes are provided in the University s instructions for research data management at The instructions will be updated during the development of the model processes Actions: Within the scope of the digitalisation project ( University Services gives instructions and creates model processes for the archiving and digitising of physical and analogue data, taking into account the ethically sustainable principles the University of Jyväskylä is committed to. The digitising is taken care of by the digitising centre of University Printing Services. The handling process of data already in a digital format follows the same principles as the handling of other data. Costs and responsibilities for the archival and open access publishing of data are agreed on in the University s internal financing negotiations when preparing the budget of 2016, at the latest. The general principle is that research projects are responsible for saving research data and sufficient metadata during projects. The University develops the necessary infrastructure and organises long-term data storage in a centralised manner. From the beginning of a research project, the researcher / research team leader describes the content of data using agreed metadata standards. More detailed instructions are available at The minimum requirement is that all data in the centralised data storage service is described according to the nationally agreed metadata model and the metadata model of the University. For significant research data, there must be readiness to describe and process the data in accordance with the requirements of long-term storage. In cooperation projects supported by external financers, research groups / researchers must follow the data management rules defined by the University. The level of data openness is determined in accordance with the ethical principles, as well as the publicity level required by the publisher and financers. The University defines the targets of and allocates resources for long-term data storage. In accordance with the University s archives policy, data preservation times are defined according to the usage requirements and legal significance of the data, as well as its importance to research. 3.5 Training and support Arranging sufficient training and support is essential for putting the research data management procedures into practice. University Services is responsible for arranging the training, support and instructions in cooperation with the University Library Actions: University Services (the Division of Strategic Planning and Development, IT Services, University Communications) offers training and support services related to data man- 5

7 agement. Instructions for handling data at different stages of the research process will be created and published on the research website of the University. As part of researcher education, training is arranged for making agreements, managing and archiving research data and providing sufficient metadata. o The training presents the principles of research ethics and questions related to data preservation, the requirements of research financers and the Personal Data Act, as well as factors related to data ownership and user rights. University Services and the University Library allocate sufficient human resources for the following: o developing the data management infrastructure and assessing the technical and operational possibilities for outsourcing data services o developing archiving practices and instructions o arranging training o increasing the familiarity and usability of research data. These principles will be further specified after clarifying, in particular, the costs of long-term data preservation that relies on national services. Practical processes and operating models, as well as instructions related to them, will be kept up to date. Matti Manninen Rector Main documents and instructions related to data management: Guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity University of Jyväskylä Research, Innovation and Infrastructure Policy University of Jyväskylä Archive Formation Plan: Covers all documents and data accumulating in the organisation, as well as systems and methods for registering and handling the documents and data. University of Jyväskylä Archiving Regulations (approved by the University Board on 24 August 2011) The Academy of Finland - Publishing open access and making data available Guidelines on Data Management in Horizon hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf The University of Jyväskylä s guidelines for research data management 6

8 Manual for research data management (in Finnish) Prepared by: Head of IT Management Antti Auer and Head of Research Sirkka-Liisa Korppi- Tommola 7