New version of Science Europe's guide to research data management includes eligibility criteria for trusted repositories as well as guidelines for researchers and reviewers.

The association of organisations that fund scientific research in Europe - Science Europe - has updated its Practical Guide to International Alignment in Research Data Management. The first version of this document was published in January 2019 and was adopted by several organisations, including the European Commission. The new version, Science Europe explains in the introduction of this guide, aims to "present an expanded version of this guide", with a special focus on the evaluation of data management platforms.

One of the main new features of the new version is the inclusion of criteria that qualify repositories as being 'trusted', as well as good practice and guidance in this field. This new information is seen as being of strategic importance for organisations and researchers, highlights Science Europe, "assisting in the identification of repositories to store and share data".

"Ensuring access to data is one of the pillars of sound and reproducible scientific research," highlights the guide, which details three types of criteria for selecting trusted repositories - the provision of persistent identifiers (PID), good practices related to metadata, and also the assurance of data integrity and preservation, as well as good licensing practices confidentiality.

It should be remembered that, in Portugal, , the FCT's FCCN unit is responsible for defining Open Science policies, taking part in working groups focused on issues such as access to publications and the management of research data.

You can consult the full version of the guide here.

Other related articles