Illustration by UCSC University Library, used under CC-BY-NC license.

It is important that you properly manage research data collected and generated in the course of your research project. Research Data Management (RDM) consists of several steps:

1. Creating a data management plan that explains how data will be managed both during and after the research project.
2. Storing research data safely and securely throughout the research project and share it with authorized colleagues.
3. Deleting, archiving and sharing data as appropriate at the end of the research project.

The Norwegian government, the Research Council of Norway, the EU, and the European Research Council all require that research data be properly managed. In addition, VID has guidelines for managing research data.

Good RDM also makes it easier for data to be shared and reused. Sharing research data is good research practice as it

• increases the value of research
• improves research visibility and increases the possibility of citation
• reduces the risk of data loss and corruption
• avoids data duplication
• enables research verifiability
• allows sharing and re-using of data by future researchers, maximizing the impact of scientific publications

VID's data management guidelines include a section on research data sharing based on the Research Council's recommendations, which, in turn, are based on the international FAIR principles, that data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. FAIR data should be "as open as possible, as closed as necessary" and take into account that some data (for example, data containing private or confidential information) cannot be made openly available.

Projects funded by the Research Council of Norway or the EU are required to have a Data Management Plan (DMP), and VID expects that all researchers write a DMP before beginning a project, regardless of funding.

A DMP is a document that describes what data will be generated or collected during your research project and how this data will be managed both during and after the conclusion of the project. DMPs generally include the following information (from Science Europe):

• Data description and collection or re-use of existing data
• Documentation and data quality
• Storage and backup during the research process
• Legal and ethical requirements, codes of conduct
• Data sharing and long-term preservation
• Data management responsibilities and resources

There are many resources available to help you write a data management plan. Remember to check whether your funder has their own requirements for structure and content.

• For projects that require Sikt (formerly NSD) notification, we recommend using Sikt's data management plan template.
• For Masters students, VID has a simiplified DMP template (in Norwegian).
• For other researchers, we recommend VID's data management template based on a template designed by UiT.

How data can be processed and stored depends on its classification. There are four categories of classification: Open or freely available (Green), Restricted (Yellow), In confidence (Red), and Strictly in confidence (Black).

For more information on red and black data, see Norwegian Data Protection Authority's webpage on personal information (in Norwegian).

All research data should have an unambiguous and identifiable owner who is responsible for ensuring all data are correctly classified and are processed and stored in accordance with their classification. The data owner must:

• make a new assessment when the information changes class
• periodically check that any changes in these rules are noted and that the chosen information class reflects this.
• Always put the information in a sufficiently safe class. If you are not sure whether your information is red or yellow, choose red.

If you will be handling any personal data in your research or student assignments, you are required to register your project with the Sikt Notification Form for personal data (Meldeskjema). You cannot begin data collection until Sikt has completed this assessment, and we recommend that you send in the notification form at least 30 days before you plan to begin data collection.

If significant changes are made to your project, Sikt must be notified before you implement these changes.

If the purpose of your research project is to "acquire new knowledge about health and disease" (Health Research Act, §4a), you must receive pre-approval from the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics (REK) before beginning your project. For researchers required to apply to REK, VID has procedures and resources (in Norwegian).

Outside of legal regulations, as a researcher you have an obligation to conduct research ethically. The broad principles of research ethics are respect, good consequnces, fairness, and integrity. The Research Ethics Library provides useful resources about research ethics.

Helsedata.no

Helsedata.no: Helsedata.no helps you find data sources and to apply for access to health information for research, health analysis, quality work in the health services, editorial work, development of pharmaceuticals or other health-related projects.

microdata.no

microdata.no: microdata.no provides instant, online access to large amounts of detailed and mergeable anonymized data from Statistics Norway (SSB). VID has an agreement that allows our researchers and students to use mircodata.no. Contact the Research Data Management Team for more information or to get access.

Sikt (formerly NSD)

Sikt "has extensive collections with data about people and society." This includes European Social Survey (ESS), a cross-national survey with data from 38 countries, and Norwegian Research Data.

SurveyBanken

A collaboration between Sikt and OsloMet, SurveyBanken provides easy access to data from 3,000 surveys since 1957. Users can find, analyze, and visualize data on a wide variety of themes including climate, politics, and youth.

If you use data generated or collected by others, it must be properly cited. At a minimum, the citation should include:

• Author(s) that have produced the data
• Year of publication of the data
• Title or name of the dataset
• Identifier that is unique to the dataset, usually a DOI
• Publisher name, i.e., the name of the data repository

In addition, the following information may be necessary to include:

• Version number
• Reuse license
• Type of data
• Related identifier (if, for example, you are using a subset of a larger dataset)

Note that recordings of red data in Zoom are allowed if you make an individual risk assessment of the data and its content. The recordings must be stored in accordance with the data collection and storage guide.

One way to archive and share your data is by depositing it in a data repository. There are a wide variety of data repositories available for use and which repository is right for your data may depend on many factors, including the type of data, your disciplinary area, the journals in which you publish your research, and whether data will be restricted or available publicly.

If you know of a data repository within your discipline (subject repository) that accepts the type of data you have collected, we recommend using it to share your data. You can also use a site like re3data to search for potential repositories.

If you cannot identify an appropriate subject repository, we recommend using either the VID Open Research Data Archive or the Sikt (formerly NSD) archive to archive and share your data.

If you are a VID researcher, you can archive and publish your data in the VID Open Research Data Archive. The archive is a part of DataverseNO, a national archive for open data operated by UiT. The archive has the CoreTrustSeal certification and is managed in compliance with the FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Practical information about publishing research data can be found here. Contact the Research Data Management Team for more information.

Sikt (formerly NSD) has an accredited archive system for archiving research data within the social sciences and humanities, and for selected fields within medical and health research. See Sikt's Archiving research data page for addition guidance and requirements.

Data underlying scientific articles should be made available as early as possible and never later than the time of publication. Other data that may be of interest for other research should be made available within a reasonable timetime, and never later than three years after the end of the project. (See Guidelines for processing of research data at VID, section 3).

• Resources related to the ethical conduct of research (in Norwegian)
• Privacy protection and GDPR
• Research at VID according to new privacy regulations
  • Routine for processing personal data in research and student assignments
  • Routine for processing personal data in health research
• The Research Ethics Library: The Research Ethics Library is an online resource for research ethics education developed by the Norwegian National Research Ethics Committees.

• Protection of privacy and checklist for managment of personal information in student assignements (in Norwegian)
• Research data in student assignments at VID (in Norwegian)

• Research support tools

Relevant laws and regulations (in Norwegian)

• The Personal Data Act of 15 June 2018
• The Intellectual Property Act of 15 June 2018
• The Health Register Act of 20 June 2014
• The Health Research Act of 20 June 2008
• The Biotechnology Act of 5 December 2003
• The Research Ethics Act of 28 April 2017
• The Universities and Colleges Act of 1 April 2005
• Regulations on the processing of personal data

Policy

• National strategy for making available and sharing research data
• EU "Open Science"
• VID Guidelines for storage and sharing of research data
• Research Council of Norway Policy on Open Access
• Overview of FAIR Principles for scientific data from GO FAIR

Yes! VID has guidelines for managing research data that outline expectations on how students and researchers should manage and share research data.

Research data are open "if anyone is free to access, use, modify, and share it — subject, at most, to measures that preserve provenance and openness" (Open Knowledge Foundation). Open data is available for reuse by anyone, but must still be properly cited when used.

VID's guidelines for manageming research data state that research data should be made available for further use as long as there are no legal, ethical or security reasons that prevent sharing. Research data should be "as open as possible, as closed as necessary".

FileSender is a web based application that allows authenticated users to securely and easily send large files to other users. See the Data management tools guide for more information.