Institutional data management blueprint project: Initial findings report

In the 10th anniversary year of the Open Archiving Initiative it is necessary to elevate research data to be a first-class citizen in the world of open scholarly communication. Such a profound goal requires far more than technical capability, but encompasses significant change for all stakeholders. Data curation and data management is often seen as an additional task for researchers. It is, however, a critical part of research best practice. In this project we are attempting to make it a seamless part of a researchers' daily workflow across a wide range of disciplines as a cornerstone of research practice.This report describes the initial findings from the Institutional Data Management Blueprint (IDMB) project, which aims to create a practical and attainable institutional framework for managing research data throughout its lifecycle that facilitates ambitious national and international e-research practice. The objective is to produce a framework for managing research data across the whole lifecycle that encompasses a whole institution (exemplified by the University of Southampton) and based on an analysis of current data management requirements for a representative group of disciplines with a range of different data.This report covers the data management audit, kick-off workshop, and data management framework development within the project