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Managing research documents and research data

Publishing your research results is a key element in scientific work. But how do you practically and administratively manage your results, along with all the associated documents and data that make up the total sum of your research?

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About research documents

The terms research documents and research data are not synonymous. Research documents include research data, but also other documents. 

Research documents: are the documents that are created before and during the research process, such as project plan, awarded grants, research data and publication lists. This refers to both physical and digital documents.  

Records management: concerns taking charge of and organising research documents. At Lund University, documents belong to the University and are public records. Original documents are therefore to be retained and archived at the University.

Read more about records management

The Records Management Plan: governs management of the University’s documents, i.e. whether a document is to be preserved and archived, registered, or if the document may be disposed of (destroyed) etc. 

Find the Records Management Plan (only avaliable in Swedish)

Registration: entails the registering of documents sent to or created at the University. This is done to fulfil legal requirements but also to create an organised system. Almost all documents that are not research data (see Research documents above) must be entered in the University’s register.

Read more about registration using the W3D3 system

Archiving: of documents is a legal requirement. The head of department has overall responsibility for documents being archived, but the researcher is responsible for carrying out the task in question. The documents are to be organised, described and titled in a way that anyone can understand.

Read more about managing and archiving research documents

Disposal of documents: is to be done in a way that minimises the loss of information. The preservation or disposal of documents is regulated by Lund University’s Records Management Plan (above) and specific decisions on disposal.

Read more about disposing of research documents

About research data

Research data: is the information (analogue or digital) that is collected or created in connection with research. This data is needed to validate the research and could include statistics, software, text, survey responses, photos and videos. However, it does not include research results and the publication it results in.

Well-planned management of research data is becoming increasingly important from a sustainability perspective and also in order to comply with the requirements of many research funding bodies. This includes, for example, the processing of personal data, ethical considerations, secure management and storage/archiving.

Requirements and guidelines for management of research data
Read more about personal data in research in the theme Good research practice

A data management plan: describes how the data is to be managed during and after a research project. The document is drawn up by the researcher responsible for the project using a tool the University has for this purpose, DMP Online. Several of the largest research funding bodies require a data management plan. 

Read more about creating a data management plan
DMP Online log in

FAIR research data: means that research data is to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. Lund University’s ambition is for the principles to be followed as far as possible.  

Read more about research data and FAIR principles on the University Library website 

Storage of research data: Lund University has several different storage solutions for research data, depending in part on your faculty affiliation. Contact the library or IT unit at your faculty, or the Division of IT.  

Read more about research data storage at Lund University
Read more about information security in the theme Security issues in research

Registration in LUCRIS

Lund University has decided that researchers are to use LUCRIS to register their research information and make, amongst other things, their publications accessible. 

LUCRIS and the Research Portal: LUCRIS, the University’s system for research information, is to provide visibility for the research of individual researchers, research teams and Lund University as a whole, e.g. publications, projects and activities. The Research Portal is the public interface for the information in LUCRIS. 

Read more about LUCRIS and the Research Portal
Register publications in LUCRIS

Open science and open research data

You have undoubtedly encountered the terms open science, open data and open access. 

Open science: is a collective term for various practices that increase the transparency, reproducibility and accessibility of research. Examples include open publishing and making research data and/or metadata searchable and reusable. 

Open research data: is research data that has been collected and/or created during the research process and published to be freely accessible in digital form.

Open access publishing: means that researchers publish their research results in a way that makes the results freely accessible in a digital form.

Several of the major research funding bodies now require you to publish research results in a way that makes the results freely accessible to everyone.

Read more about open access on the University Library website

 

Newsboy with papers

Contact

Library research support

Lund University's joint research data support:

  • support [at] researchdata [dot] lu [dot] se (support[at]researchdata[dot]lu[dot]se)
  • Web form