LibGuides@Southampton: Research Data Management (old April 2019): Useful Links

Contact Us

Emaul us on: researchdata@soton.ac.uk

Who's Who in the Research Engagement Team

Working with data

Overview

Research Support

General Guidance

Create and Manage Data (UK Data Archive) This link opens in a new window
Guide on creating and managing research data aimed at researchers in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Archaeology Data Service Guides to Good Practice This link opens in a new window
The primary aim of these Guides to Good Practice is to provide information on the best way to create, manage, and document digital material produced during the course of an archaeological project. The ultimate aim of the Guides is to improve the practice of depositing and preserving digital information safely within an archive for future use.
Managing and sharing data: a best practice guide for researchers (UK Data Archive) This link opens in a new window
A short version of Create and Manage Data. For print copies contact datasharing@data-archive.ac.uk.
Digital Curation Centre (DCC) This link opens in a new window
Aims to provide a national focus for research and development into curation issues and to promote expertise and good practice for the management of all research outputs in digital format. Their website includes resources and tools to help researchers.
Curation Reference Manual This link opens in a new window
Contains advice, in-depth information and criticism on current digital curation techniques and best practice.
The Manual is an on-going, community-driven project, which involves members of the DCC community suggesting topics, authoring manual instalments and conducting peer reviews.
Good Research Practice (MRC) This link opens in a new window
An overview of the principles of good research practice that applies to all those in receipt of MRC funding. Includes a section on 'Recording the Data'
relu Knowledge Portal - Data Sharing This link opens in a new window
Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) programme takes a proactive approach to data management and sharing through: a programme level strategy, well-established data sharing infrastructures, and data support for researchers to optimise the availability of data to the research community.
Software Sustainability Institute This link opens in a new window
Software helps researchers to enhance their research, and improve the speed and accuracy of their results. The Software Sustainability Institute can help you introduce software into your research or improve the software you already use.
They can help you gain the skills you need through their guides and other resources, or through training and collaboration. They can evaluate software based on your requirements, or you can review the software yourself with the help of our online tools.

Useful Data Management Plan Tools

Online DMP tool

The Digital Curation Centre also supports a tool - DMPonline - to help create, store and export your DMP. This will allow you to:

Tailor the plan to funder and local requirements
Export section to a report
Share and edit plans jointly with colleagues

Data Management Planning

Metadata Standards and Training

Standards

Project Documentation - Archaeology Data Service Guides to Good Practice This link opens in a new window
Explains what is meant by research data documentation and its essential role in the discoverability and re-usability.
Project Metadata - Archaeology Data Service Guides to Good Practice This link opens in a new window
Explains what is meant by research data metadata and its essential role in the discoverability and re-usability.
Documentation and Metadata - Research Data MANTRA This link opens in a new window
Online training module covering importance of documenting your research data, why and when to use metadata and it's contribution to best practice.
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative This link opens in a new window
A standard that is widely used, generic and fairly simple
Data Documentation Initiative This link opens in a new window
The Data Documentation Initiative is an international standard for describing the data produced by surveys and other observational methods in the social, behavioral, economic, and health sciences. DDI is a free standard that can document and manage different stages in the research data lifecycle, such as conceptualization, collection, processing, distribution, discovery, and archiving.
Disciplinary Metadata This link opens in a new window
Information about disciplinary metadata standards and tools to implement them
Managing Data (RDM Rose session 6) This link opens in a new window
Training material on managing data and using metadata, tailored for Information professionals
Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standards (METS) This link opens in a new window
A standard for encoding descriptive, administrative, and structural metadata regarding objects within a digital library
General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G)) This link opens in a new window
A standard for archives
INSPIRE: Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community - Metadata This link opens in a new window
A standard for spatial data

Version Control

Developers use version and revision control software to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation. Examples of are:

Apache Subversion (SVN), distributed under an open source license.

Git is a free and open source distributed version control system.

Mercurial a free, distributed source control management tool. Help

Contact Serviceline or your iSolutions Business Relationship Manager for further details.

Authenticity and Version Control of Data This link opens in a new window
The UK Data Archive has decades of experience in all aspects of data curation, digital preservation, data access, user support and capacity building. Included here are guides for best practice to help you manage research data more effectively.
Version Control - Microsoft Users This link opens in a new window
advice from University of Edinburgh Records Management Section, aimed at Microsoft users

File Formats

Data Formats This link opens in a new window
Advice from the UK Data Archive on the importance of managing and sharing data.
File Formats - Curation Reference Manual (DCC) This link opens in a new window
A chapter providing help in choosing a format that will help with usability over time, from the Curation Reference Manual - an on-going, community-driven project.
File formats and compression (JISC Digital Media) This link opens in a new window
This document looks at the theory of file formats and the common methods of data compression.

File Naming

File Naming Convention (CEDA) This link opens in a new window
Advice from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis on its file-naming conventions
Standard Naming Conventions for Electronic Records This link opens in a new window
Advice to staff at University of Edinburgh from their Records Management Section.