Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management (RDM)

"The agencies believe that research data collected with the use of public funds belong, to the fullest extent possible, in the public domain and available for reuse by others."

Researchers are responsible for:

• incorporating data management best practices into their research;
• developing data management plans to guide the responsible collection, formatting, preservation and sharing of their data throughout the entire lifecycle of a research project and beyond;
• following the requirements of applicable institutional and/or funding agency policies and professional or disciplinary standards;
• acknowledging and citing datasets that contribute to their research; and
• staying abreast of standards and expectations of their disciplinary community

Institutions are responsible for:

• providing their researchers with an environment that enables world class data stewardship practices;
• delivering, or supporting access to, repositories or other platforms that securely preserve, curate and provide continued access to research data;
• supporting researchers in their efforts to establish and implement data management practices that are consistent with ethical, legal and commercial obligations, as well as tri-agency requirements, including the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans – 2^ndedition, the Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research and other relevant policies;
• providing their affiliated researchers with guidance to properly manage their data in accordance with both the principles outlined above and research community best practices, including the development of data management plans;
• recognizing data as an important research output and fostering excellence in data management;
• promoting the importance of data management to researchers, staff and students; and
• developing their own data management policies, ensuring that these policies are in accordance with the principles outlined above and provincial and national laws, and can accommodate the rapidly evolving research communities’ best practices.

For further information, please see the complete Tri-Agency Statement of Principles of Digital Data Management.