Roles and Responsibilities
Trustworthy science requires scientific integrity. Therefore, roles and responsibilities of the people involved must be clarified at all times during the research process. This demands regular exchanges and agreements within the project group. Research data management helps achieving this challenging goal. Furthermore, the clarification of responsibilities prior to the beginning of a research project has the advantage of preventing problems and avoiding delays during research. To meet the requirements, the Research Data Management Network provides support.
The following tables give an overview about roles and responsibilities regarding research data management. It is based on the Policy on research data management at the University of Basel (only available in German). The table addresses the principal investigators leading research groups as well as individual researchers not affiliated with any group, supervisors of students and leaders of institutes.
Responsibilities for principal investigators (PI), researchers | |
| Implementation of data management | Implement on a regular basis research data management in research groups. |
Data Management Plan | Creation of a data management plan (DMP) for the entire research project at the beginning of a research project. |
Retention, storage and archiving | Clarify responsibilities for retention, storage and archiving of research data at the beginning of research project. Alignment with the requirements of the funding organizations and the University of Basel (the academic integrity regulation mandates a minimum of 5-year retention period). |
Storage, annotation, archiving | Contact relevant service providers for storage, annotation, and archiving, addressing project-specific requirements (e.g., large storage needs, security, international collaborations) at an early phase of research project. |
Legal and ethical issues | Ensure legal and ethical compliance for research data processing, obtaining approvals from relevant authorities (e.g., Cantonal Ethics Commission, University Ethics Committee, Data Protection Officer University of Basel or Canton). |
Documentation | Document continuously according to "Best Practice" in the research field (e.g., ELNs, code repositories) to ensure work and data are understandable, traceable, and ideally reusable post-project. |
Long-term archiving, data transfer | Engage with the options and necessities of long-term archiving or data transfer. Early enough upon changing positions or retirements. |
Responsibilities for supervisors of students (master's and doctoral levels) | |
Education in Research Data management | Provide opportunities on a regular basis for acquiring necessary knowledge and skills, such as training courses or integrating data management into daily research activities in institutes, groups, and labs. |
Leaders of institutes | |
Implementation of data management | Implement on a regular basis research data management in units, ensuring staff know university policies and get support. Also clarify post-project data access for departing employees. |