Data Management Plan

What is it?

A Data Management Plan (DMP) is a document that describes the types of data that will be produced as part of a research project and how those data will be securely stored, documented, shared, and preserved both during the project and after it is completed. Federal grant agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) require DMPs (or data sharing plans) to be submitted when applying for almost all grants.

What do funders expect?

The specific requirements vary by granting agency and directorate.

  • National Science Foundation (NSF): NSF requires all grant applications to include a Data Management Plan that describes the data that will be produced and plans to document, share, and preserve that data. See the specific guidelines for the various NSF directorates.
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH): All NIH grants submitted after January 2023 will require a Data Management and Sharing Plan that describes how data will be managed and shared.
  • National Institute of Justice (NIJ): For most applications, NIJ requires a Data Archiving Plan that describes how the data will be documented and prepared for archival. The NIJ also requires a Privacy Certificate describing plans for protecting identifiable data.
  • National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): Office of Digital Humanities requires a Data Management Plan with grant applications. See the specific NEH requirements.
  • The University Libraries has information about data management plan requirements for other agencies and directorates.

What should I include?

Specific requirements will vary by agency, but in general, a DMP requires you to describe the specific data that will be produced, how you will document the data, how the data will be stored and protected during the research, and how you plan to share and preserve the data after the research is completed. See the Library's Data Management Plan page for templates and more details.

Who can help?

Both Research Support in LATIS and the University Libraries can help you write and review your Data Management Plan. Contact us to get started!

Other resources

ICPSR’s Guide for Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving

UK Data Archive’s Managing and Sharing Data document