National Registry of Scientific Data Management Plans by IBICT

Abstract

A Data Management Plan is a document where the main aspects of data management are recorded and sent to funding agencies. In addition, it is part of the data documentation and is filed together with the data in repositories or published by scientific journals. The National Registry of Scientific Data Management Plans (NRSDMP) by IBICT is a tool that seeks assisting researchers on their (meta) data planning and management. It was designed based on the FAIR Principles, which are guidelines to be followed in the search for findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable data and metadata. The objectives were to: present the NRSDMP developed by IBICT; describe its implementation process; and demonstrate its compliance to the FAIR Principles. The study was designed in a qualitative research of exploratory and descriptive nature with use of the action-research method. The results contribute to the enrichment of theoretical discussions regarding factors that contribute to data management and its documentation, such as the data management plan, articulating the practices applied to the preparation of a FAIR DMP and with instructions that allow making data and metadata FAIR. The NRSDMP also serves as guidance to researchers for reaching FAIRness. In conclusion, the paper presents theoretical and practical contributions to: the development of FAIR compliant tools; as well as the creation of educational content (data literacy) for researchers in need of planning their data management, all in accordance with the international community.