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Research Data Management

This guide provides information on how to better manage and share research data in any discipline.

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Prepare your data for sharing

  1. Gather your data and related information
    • raw data
    • processed and transformed data
    • documentation (README files, data dictionaries)
    • data tables and statistical summaries
    • figures and visualizations
    • methods and protocols
    • code: data processing and analysis scripts
  2. Verify that your files can be shared publicly
    • remove copyrighted or user-restricted content
    • remove sensitive or personally identifiable information
      • anonymize human subject data
      • mask collection sites or locations of endangered or vulnerable species
  3. Organize data and documents
    • ​​​​​​use descriptive, meaningful and consistent file names
    • organize directories/folders logically (e.g., Scripts, Raw Data, Processed Data, Results)
  4. Choose open file formats over proprietary
  5. Upload data files to your chosen data repository 
    • get permanent identifier (DOI) for your dataset and share!

Adapted from https://datadryad.org/stash/best_practices