Project planning:
Research data definition
There are numerous definitions of research data. In general, research data includes all data that arise during the research process (e.g. with measurements, surveys, work with sources), that can be used as a basis for scientific research (e.g. digital copies), or that are the result of scientific work.
Requirements of research funding bodies (EU, German Research Foundation DFG, BMBFTR)
National and international funding organizations increasingly require detailed information about how research data arising from research projects are handled and, in part, are also requiring open access to data relevant to publications.
- European Commission - Horizon Europe: (2021-2027)
- The specimen funding agreement (PDF) (version 1.2, 15 September 2025) contains the current requirements for research data management and open science from page 92 onward.
- The Programme Guide (PDF) (version 5.1., 15 September 2025) contains detailed instructions for preparing an application, a description of open science practices (including research data management), and useful resources, pp. 42-57.
- Annotated Grant Agreement (PDF) (version 2.0, 1 April 2025), section 7 deals with the most important requirements (creating a data management plan, publishing the data in a suitable repository, validation, metadata) and how these can be fulfilled, pp. 392–393
- A data management plan (PDF) needs to be provided at the time of application (most recently updated on 13 June
2022); this list which information is obligatory in applications and which additional information is recommended.
- German Research Foundation (DFG) see here: Handling of Research Data, checklist (PDF), Information on the resources available, Subject-specific Recommendations on the Handling of Research Data, Guidelines for submitting proposals (project proposals) 03/2022
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR/previously BMBF): Research data
- Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). Information sheet on FDM
Further information can be found on the Forschungsdaten.info information platform under Funder Guidelines.
Publishers’ requirements
Publishers are also increasingly including “data sharing policies” requiring those research data to be published or provided that are used as a basis for the publication in a scientific journal. Please check the requirements before publication.
Examples of data policies from academic journals:
- Nature: Availability of Data, Material and Methods Policy
- Science: Data and Materials Availability Policy and Preparing Your Supplementary Materials
- BioMed Central: Availability of supporting data
- Elsevier: Research data Policy and Text and Data Mining Policy
- List of selected social science journals
- List of journals with open-data policies
More information can be found here: Guidelines and policies
Costs of data management
RDM costs can usually be included in the application. An overview of the costs incurred can be found here.
More informationen
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