Research Data Management (the lifecycle of research data)

Good research data management ensures the preservation, discoverability, accessibility, comprehensibility, and reusability of research data. Open research information and data benefit researchers, organizations, science, funders, and society as a whole.

Benefits for researchers and the scientific community

• Improved verification and reproducibility of research results.
• Use of pre-collected open research data accelerates and enhances scientific work.
• Sharing research data ensures its preservation after the research project concludes.
• Open availability of research data increases visibility, innovation, networking, and the recognition of researchers.

Benefits for society

• Research funded by society is more widely utilized.
• Research information is accessible to everyone.

Benefits for funders

• Openness of research data ensures public support for research funding.
• Research data is available for evaluation in cases of suspected fraud or plagiarism.
• Funders can consider researchers' contributions to research data in addition to scientific publications.

The data policy of the University of Turku describes the University-level principles and policies that are related to the collection, use and management of research data.

• the data policy of the University concerns only digital data.
• the data policy does not address physical and biological materials, please see the open infrastructures of the University of Turku.

The University of Turku's open science guidelines can be found on the university's website.

In addition to the openness of research data, the open sharing of research methods is also part of open science. Documenting, reporting, and sharing research methods and workflows increase the reproducibility and transparency of research, and clarify the methodological choices made.

National guidelines for the open availability of research data and methods.

To enable the further use of research data, researchers should follow the so-called FAIR principles, i.e. the data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable. Lately, the FAIR principles have become one of the most central issues in open science due to the influence of several research funders. 

How to ensure your data adheres to the FAIR principles:

• Store your data in a data repository.
• Obtain a persistent identifier for your data.
• Save your data in an open and long-lasting file format.
• Create metadata for your data.
• Assign a license to your data that specifies the possibilities for reuse.

National FAIRdata services:

• IDA: Data storage service for research data
• Qvain: Research data description tool
• Etsin: Research data search service
• PAS: Long-term preservation service for research data

More information about FAIR data can be found in the OpenAIRE guide "How to make your data FAIR".

Also, refer to the Finnish data services guide  "Improve the quality and impact of your research through data management - A guide for making your data FAIR".