The objective of UEF publishing and data policy is to ensure that research data produced with public financing is broadly utilisable for the scientific community and the society at large. This requires the methods, results, data and publications of a research study to be opened. More information about open science and open publishing on Library’s webpages. The Library organises a course on Basics of Open and Responsible Science (2 ECTS) for the Doctoral School. It provides basic information on the topic.
One of the Finnish Open Science policy goals is, that all research projects create a data management plan (DMP), which ensures that the research data is treated in a manner that it can reliably verified and/or opened.
Data management plan
When a research project starts, it is recommended that a data management plan (DMP) is created for the project. The DMP describes the types of data that are produced, the ownership of data, the ethical aspects related to the data, data storage and back-ups, and storage of metadata (the “background” information related to the data). Documentation of the research data should follow the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reproducible) principles, so that the data can be later opened. Even if the data cannot be opened, i.e., because of GDPR, it must be documented so that it is verifiable. The DMP should be a dynamic document that is updated during the entire project. You can get support for creating a DMP from the Basics of Research Data Management (1 Cp) course that is organized by the UEF Library. The UEF Library also offers support for data management during all stages of research projects
Processing of personal data and data protection
If your research data includes any personal data, the requirements of the GDPR are applied in processing it. Data protection is a fundamental right that safeguards the rights and freedoms of data subjects when personal data is processed. The purpose of data protection is to define when and on what conditions personal data can be processed. Processing of personal data and data protection should be described in data management plan.
More information:
- Data protection in research (in Heimo, requires UEF login)
- Data protection guidelines for students who process personal data in their thesis
UEF Staff must take and pass an online training module in information security and data protection every third year (requires UEF login).
Information security
Research data and other recorded information can be divided into three categories based on the document secrecy and the general right of access: high protection level, base protection level, and public information. For saving and storing research data, Digital Services provides disk space with backup (50 GB) and without backup (2 TB) as well as REDCap-data management services. Learn more about information security, information security instructions, and information security rules in Heimo (requires UEF login).