RDM policy at University of Freiburg

The Research Data Management Group (RDMG) of the University of Freiburg informs about an updated version of the RDM policy, replacing the version of 2018. Find the respective RDMG blog post here.

What's the news in brief?

The new policy applies to all researchers and services and makes clear recommendations on visibility, usability and exchange of data. Explicitly, researchers at the University of Freiburg are encouraged to use an ORCID identifier, and publications or meaningful units of research data should be citable via a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), following the German Research Foundation's "Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice. Code of Conduct" (2019).

While being a prerequisite for scientific integrity, data integrity is the goal of all research data management in the RDM policy's updated version. Moreover, and with reference to the FAIR principles, the policy emphasizes on keeping data available for review of results or subsequent use. This includes preparations to simplify further processing through metadata and annotations, providing solid grounds for data-driven research.

What does that mean for my research (on usegalaxy.eu)?

A principle plus. usegalaxy.eu is a service of which central components run on University of Freiburg IT systems. Although we (Galaxy Europe and connected units) act as recommended by the new policy, being formally aligned fosters colaborations. Considering the user service relations, the policy define clear responsibilities of both parties. Finally, updating guidelines in rapidly developing fields like data science obviously appears favorable in general, not only from a legal perspective - they serve as common, applicable references.