Funders' policies and guidelines
In the UK, the following research funders have some data policies in place:
The Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) policy came into effect from April 2008. AHRC funding for the Arts and Humanities Data Service ceased on 31 March 2008.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) takes a devolved approach and its policy came into effect in April 2007.
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) requires data to be offered to the UK Data Archive for potential dissemination through the Economic and Social Data Service. The council updated its Research Data Policy in September, 2010 to require a data management and sharing plan.
The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has no policy on data as yet.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) has no data centres but adopted a data sharing policy with effect from April 2006.
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which has a detailed data policy handbook and guidelines for grant-holders, has seven designated data centres where grant-holders can deposit their data.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), formed in 2007 by a merger of the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils ( CCLRC) and Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), has yet to develop its formal data sharing policy, though its facilities have well-developed individual policies.
The Wellcome Trust has both a statement on open access of research outputs and a brief policy regarding data management and sharing.
Research funders' policies - The Digital Curation Centre (DCC)
A detailed comparison of main UK research funders' policies and the support infrastructure is available from the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) website.
This article was published on Jun 20, 2011