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What are the requirements of research funding, publishers and the university?

  • German Research Foundation (DFG)

In its 'Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice', which came into force on 1 August 2019, the DFG makes fundamental stipulations on the handling of research data and requires, among other things, that “research data [...] are generally kept accessible and traceable [...] for a period of ten years”.

Furthermore, the guideline states:

“For reasons of traceability, connectivity of research and re-usability, researchers deposit the research data on which the publication is based [...] accessibly in recognised archives and repositories whenever possible.”

The 'Guidelines for Handling Research Data' (PDF) adopted in 2015 contain further recommendations for the provision of data, but also for data-related project planning. Among other things, they state:

“Already in the planning phase of a project, consideration should be given to whether and which of the research data resulting from a project can be relevant for other research contexts and in what way these research data can be made available to other researchers for subsequent use. In a proposal, applicants should therefore explain which research data will be created, generated or evaluated in the course of a scientific research project. This should be based on appropriate subject-specific concepts and considerations for quality assurance, for the handling and long-term storage of research data.”

  • European Commission (EC)

The Commission is implementing a pilot project within the Horizon 2020 programme called the Open Research Data Pilot, which aims to improve access to and re-use of research data from Horizon 2020 projects. The Open Research Data Pilot follows the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

While only selected areas of Horizon 2020 were included in the 2014-2016 work programmes, the pilot now covers all subject areas in the revised version of the 2017 work programme.

The following regulations apply:

Creation of a data management plan according to the template. Submission within the first six months, updating in case of relevant changes or at least at the time of the intermediate and final evaluations of the project.

Data storage: Research data must be stored as soon as possible (applies to data underlying a project publication) or in accordance with the data management plan (applies to other data) in a suitable repository, preferably institutional, project-specific or subject-specific.

Publication: Where possible, the data should be published under an open licence (preferably CC-BY or CC-0) without any restrictions on use, including the required contextual information and tools.

However, a partial or complete exemption from the requirements on the basis of justified reasons is possible.  (Does anything speak against publication?)

Further information can be found here:

Guidelines on FAIR Data Management in Horizon 2020 (PDF)
Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data in Horizon 2020
Horizon 2020 Online Manual: Open Access and Data Management (PDF)
Horizon 2020: Annotated Model Grant Agreement (AGA) (PDF)
OpenAIRE Research Data Management Briefing Paper (PDF)

  • Publishers

Public Library of Science (PLoS): Data Availability / Materials and Software Sharing
Nature Publishing Group: Availability of Data, Materials, Code and Protocols
Science: Data and Materials Availability / Preparing Supplementary Materials
BioMed Central: Availability of Data and Material
Elsevier: Research Data Policy / Text and Data Mining Policy

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