A content analysis of institutional data policies

Abstract

The newly issued requirement for a data management plan in proposals submitted to the U.S. National Science Foundation and other federal funding agencies prompted many institutions to develop their own policies to conform to this new requirement as well as to more effectively manage, share, publish, and provide access to research data. While the need for guidelines or a framework in developing such data policies is imminent, research is lacking in this area. The study reported here addresses this need by using a content analysis of 58 policy documents from 20 institutions. Our preliminary findings reveal an uneven distribution of data policies among the institutions and disciplines included in this study. We are currently analyzing our results. © 2011 Authors.