Research
New Data Management Regulations for Leiden University
Leiden University considers careful handling of research data of great importance. It contributes to the reliability, quality and reproducibility of research and enables the reuse of research data. In December 2021, the Executive Board has established new Data Management Regulations. The regulations describe the focal points for dealing with research data in the various phases of research. It also describes the responsibilities of everyone involved in research. As of now, the new regulations replace the one from 2016.
More focus on tasks and responsibilities
The 2016 regulations were outdated in a number of respects. For example, since 2018 there has been new European legislation on the handling of personal data GDPR and a new Code of Conduct for Scientific Integrity for Dutch Universities. Also, the Strategy Evaluation Protocol (SEP, 2021-2027) focuses on the sharing and reuse of research data and software. The by now widely recognised FAIR principles, which stand for Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability, for the responsible handling of research data have now also been included in the regulation. New is the focus on software and other research output and on research data collected by students. A number of terms from the regulation are explained in a definition list. There is also more focus on tasks and responsibilities.
Framework for a University-wide research data management policy
The Data Management Regulations are intended are intended to provide a framework for a University-wide research data management policy and require further elaboration at the disciplinary level. The faculties are responsible for the further elaboration in their own 'data protocol'. A template is available for this purpose. The ambition is for all faculties to develop such a data protocol in 2022. Faculties and institutes will be supported by their own faculty data stewards and centrally by UBL's Centre for Digital Scholarship and the ISSC.
The new regulations can be found on the website. For questions about the regulation or the data protocol template, please contact Fieke Schoots: f.schoots@library.leidenuniv.nl of the Centre for Digital Scholarship.