JOWS#1 - Carina Becker - Evaluation of DMP-Tools

This presentation is based on a seminar talk given as part of the JOWS monthly series.

Data Management Plans (DMPs) are crucial for a structured research data management and often a mandatory part of research proposals. The manual creation of DMPs can be very time-consuming, since many researchers have to start from scratch, are unsure about the required content and may run the risk of not meeting the funder requirements. By using tools, DMPs can be effectively developed and managed. There are a variety of tools to support the development of DMPs: from discipline agnostic DMP tools, which can be used to generate a generic draft DMP, to discipline-specific DMP tools, which support the creation of a DMP in a specific research field, such as psychology, biodiversity, engineering, or the life sciences. Our aim was to develop a quick and easy to use DMP service for members of Saxon research institutions, building on existing work. In order to evaluate 18 of the existing DMP tools, we defined 32 requirement parameters covering aspects with regard to basic functions, technical aspects and user-friendliness. To further prioritize, a weight factor between zero (not relevant) and three (high priority) was assigned to every requirement parameter. The DMP tools were rated according to a fixed rating scheme from zero (poor) to ten (excellent), and then multiplied with the weight factor. Our results can support tool developers to identify potential improvements and hosting institutions to select a tool suited to their specific needs.