Most funding agencies require a data management plan, and most of them have their own set of unique, though often similar, policies.

The first step in writing a data management plan is understanding what your funder requires. While the DMPTool (see next page in this guide) will offer you some guidance and a template, it's best to start by consulting the detailed information provided by your particular funding agency.

SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) has compiled an excellent resource with information about the data management and data sharing requirements from all the federal funding agencies. 

If your funder is the NIH, the Lane Library's guide on Responding to the NIH data management and sharing policy includes specific guidance for that particular agency that you might find helpful.

Data best practices and case studies

How to use best practices for managing your research data, along with case studies and examples to help you use these techniques.

Create metadata for your research project

How to create metadata for your research projects.

Data sharing

Learn the what, when, where, and how of data sharing.

One component of your DMP/DMSP is where you will share and preserve your data. The Stanford Digital Repository (SDR) can take care of both of these needs for you, and provide you with a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) for your work at the same time.

The SDR is available to all members of the Stanford community with an active SUNet ID and scholarly works that they want to share either with the Stanford community or anyone in the world. 

For cut-and-paste language about the SDR to include in your plan, see the DMPTool page of this guide.

Check out the guide on Data Sharing for more information on how to select a repository for sharing research data.