DMPTuuli for smart research data management planning

<p><strong>Introduction</strong><br> Data management planning is an important part of the research life cycle. The aim of data management planning is to ensure that good scientific practice is followed, data are kept safe and secure at all stages of the research life cycle, and that data sharing is possible after the original research has been completed. Many research funders have requirements for data sharing and data management plans (DMP). DMP tools are services built to help researchers to create a data management plan fitting their needs and based on funder guidelines. The Tuuli project develops a DMP tool for Finnish research organizations.</p> <p><strong>Case</strong><br> Tuuli is a collaborative project involving universities, other research organizations and biggest funders in Finland. The DMP tool will be based on an open source software solution provided by Digital Curation Center (DCC, UK) called DMPonline. The Tuuli project is funded by the Ministry of Education and coordinated by Helsinki University Library. There are over 40 experts in working<br> groups and subgroups from 22 different organizations and more organizations are joining the project.<br> <br> The main goals for the project are:<br> · Explore the needs of DMP guidance and education.<br> · Create DMP guidance which helps researchers to adopt research data management (RDM) best practices.<br> · Link guidance to the research process (via grant application process).<br> · Help organizations create their own DMP guidance and raise awareness about the need for DMP reviewing and research data management services.<br> · Develop a DMP tool including necessary templates, guidance and links to support services available in research organizations.</p> <p>Guidance for various disciplines will be written together with researchers and research units. However the DMP instructions for research projects using specific data type (e.g. sensitive data), will be produced in expert working groups. Thus, different collaboration models creating researcher guidance will be tested.<br> <br> The project has a user driven approach. Workshops for researchers and research support experts have been organized and all guidance and DMP templates will be exposed for comments before implementing the tool and before the process is connected with grant applications.</p> <p>In the project, researchers were interviewed about their needs concerning DMP tool, guidance and education. Available DMP tools were compared and DMPonline was chosen for piloting. During year 2016 the general DMP guidance will be finalized and first funders will implement the Tuuli tool in their grant application process.<br> <br> <strong>Discussion</strong><br> Many medical libraries in Europe are getting started with research data management and DMP services. International developer community is starting to grow around existing DMP tools. According to the interviews made in the Tuuli project, researchers need especially subject specific instructions and examples. In the future, we hope that there will be an international medical RDM community<br> developing guidance, education and other services for medical researchers.