Research data is any information that has been collected, observed, generated or created to validate original research findings. Research data is often understood to be digital, but it can also include non-digital formats, such as laboratory notebooks and diaries. Opening research data increases the reliability and reproducibility of scientific research. However, allowing open access to the data does not mean that the entirety of the data needs to be fully opened. For example, it is possible to store the data in secure data archives (repositories) so that the reuse of the data requires a research permit, while just the metadata is fully opened.
For it to be possible to open research data, systematic and good data management is required from the very beginning of the research process. A good way to achieve this is creating a data management plan and keeping it up-to-date.
The international FAIR data principles were created to guide the production of research data so that the data would be easier to understand and more useful to re-users. The aim of the principles is to make research data:
See the video below for a more detailed explanation of each principle.
These days, many research funders require research data to be compliant with the FAIR principles. The data management should follow these principles complying the confidential, sensitive and personal information.
Even if the research data contains confidential, sensitive or personal information, the FAIR principles can and should be taken into account when managing the data. In these cases, it is especially important to carefully plan the data management early in the research project while considering and complying with the policies, agreements and restrictions related to opening data that contains such information.