Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy Released March 15, 2021

Following on the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy and after 7 years of consultation and development, the Tri-Agencies are moving into the implementation phase of their Research Data Management (RDM) requirements for researchers. This RDM Policy will require future applications to be accompanied by a Research Data Management Plan (DMP) that addresses the many facets of data management throughout the research life cycle. UBC Library is finalizing the implementation of a DMP Assistant to help facilitate this process for researchers.

Rollout of the RDM Policy will proceed over several years. By 2022, the Tri-Agencies will have identified an initial set of grants that will require DMPs to be attached to their applications. Expanding on the current requirement that CIHR grant recipients must deposit data specific to bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data, the Agencies will collectively phase in the requirement for deposit of research data. The implementation of this requirement will follow a review of individual institutional supports and readiness. This process recognizes that while not all data should be deposited in an open way, grant recipients are expected to provide appropriate access to their data as ethical, cultural, legal and commercial requirements permit.

In addition to these requirements, the Policy also contains a section about Indigenous data sovereignty and the Policy’s alignment with the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics), https://www.gida-global.org/care

To read the RDM Policy, go to: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/063.nsf/eng/h_97610.html

If you are interested in starting work on a Data Management Plan, please contact:

Marjorie Mitchell, Copyright, Scholarly Communications, and Research Data Management Librarian, marjorie.mitchell@ubc.ca