Langara College Research Data Management Strategy

(Last Revision: February 2023)

PDF version available here

PREAMBLE

Introduction & Background

• This strategy document was created to satisfy the requirements of the Tri-Agency Research Data Management (RDM) Policy [1], so that Langara College can continue to comply with requirements to receive grant funding to support applied research.
  • According to the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, researchers seeking grant funding from NSERC, CIHR, or SSHRC* will be required to write a data management plan (DMP) that reflects the best practices in RDM. The DMP will be submitted to the funding agency along with the project proposal.
  • Researchers will also be required to deposit their relevant research data that directly supports journal publications, and which arose from Tri-Agency grant funded projects, into a digital repository by the time of publication. There are exceptions to this requirement for data that is connected to Indigenous communities.
  • The exact implementation date for the two requirements above has not yet been shared. Until this date, researchers will not be required to write DMPs or deposit data.
  • Langara College is required to develop an institutional RDM strategy, post the strategy when complete (by March 1st, 2023), and inform Tri-Agency when it is posted.

• This document was also created to guide the future of research data management at Langara College, so that researchers are properly supported in practicing RDM.
  • Prior to the development of this document, Langara College had no existing RDM strategy or supports in place. The elements and goals within this strategy reflect that RDM is still a new and emerging practice at Langara.

• The Digital Research Alliance of Canada Institutional Research Data Management Strategy Development Template [2] was used to help develop this document. Langara College also collaborated with several other small post-secondary institutions in B.C. during the strategy development process.

• The importance of implementing RDM practices at Langara College goes beyond simply fulfilling Tri-Agency requirements. Depositing data and submitting data management plans are becoming increasingly common requirements for publishing in academic journals. Langara College hopes to align with this evolving movement within academic research.

• This document aims to promote a balanced approach to RDM that recognizes the unique needs and requirements of fundings agencies, researchers, industry partners, human research participants, Indigenous communities, and the general public. Fulfilling all these needs and requirements is a complex process that will unfold over time.

* National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Purpose of the RDM Strategy

Importance of Research Data & RDM at Langara College

• Increasing the number of applied research projects with community partnerships is part of Langara College’s 2025 Strategic Plan [4]. Without implementing RDM practices at Langara College, researchers will no longer be able to apply for Tri-Agency grant funding.

• Properly managing research data has many benefits to researchers and the scholarly community as a whole:
  • When data is deposited effectively, it can potentially be shared (when appropriate) with other scholars working on related research projects, including replication and validation studies. This improves reproducibility and can advance research discoveries in the field.
  • Publications with datasets that are openly accessible tend to have higher citation rates [3]. When it is appropriate to share data openly, doing so can improve the dissemination of research and raise the scholarly profiles of authors.
  • Data may be requested by journals to verify research findings after publication, and properly managed data is easier to retrieve for this purpose. Data requests are becoming increasingly common, especially with high-impact journals [5, 6, 7]. RDM protects the integrity of research and the scholarly reputations of researchers.
  • Researchers can save time and money when RDM practices are in place. Data management plans allow researchers to prepare in advance for their data needs throughout the research project. Properly storing and depositing data makes it easier to locate and interpret in the future and protects against data loss. This can lead to fewer errors, easier analysis, and improved collaboration between team members.

• An RDM strategy is essential in articulating Langara’s commitment to Indigenous data sovereignty and implementing a distinctions-based approach to RDM. Langara College is located on the traditional territory of the Musqueam People and the College regularly collaborates with Indigenous communities on research projects.

ELEMENTS OF THE STRATEGY^*

* Langara College used RISE framework capacity levels [8] to develop these goals.

** “Beginning” status refers to tasks that have not yet been started, but work will begin on the listed date

APPLICATION OF THE STRATEGY

Responsibilities

• The Applied Research Centre (ARC) and/or Library will offer support to researchers with data depositing, data management plans, active data storage, and long-term data storage. Information Technology (IT) may also offer support to researchers using SharePoint through Langara College for active data storage.

• If an individual researcher is not actively participating in the process of writing DMPs or depositing data, the ARC and/or Library may withdraw their assistance in these areas and will not help write data management plans or deposit data without the collaboration of the researchers involved in collecting the data.

• Researchers are free to complete the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy requirements on their own (data deposit and DMPs). They may also request assistance in completing these requirements. The ARC will attempt to connect with all researchers doing grant-funded research to ensure researchers have the proper RDM support. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the researcher to complete a data management plans and deposit data in an appropriate repository.

Scope

• This document applies to all data collected through Tri-Agency grant-funded research projects. The research data could be collected by faculty, staff, or students from any department.

• For research projects that received grant funding prior to the posting of this document, the RDM strategy does not apply retroactively to any research data that was generated.

• Where a research project was not funded by NSERC, SSHRC, or CIHR, this strategy document does not necessarily apply. However, Langara College will still encourage all researchers to use RDM best practices, no matter how the research project was funded.

• This document does not apply to institutional research data collected at Langara College, where the data is used strictly within the college that has not been collected through a grant-funded research project. This data is governed by separate strategies and policies.

Fostering Indigenous Data Sovereignty

• RDM processes that involves Indigenous data will prioritize Indigenous data sovereignty, encourage self-determination, and ensure that Indigenous communities derive a collective benefit. We recognize and respect the uniqueness of different Indigenous communities - this is not a pan-Indigenous approach to RDM.

• Indigenous stakeholders at Langara College will continue to have the opportunity to contribute to the College’s RDM Strategy at any point.

• Indigenous research partners will be involved and consulted at every step in the RDM process. No important decisions will be made without approval of relevant Indigenous communities.

• We recognize the diversity of Indigenous data, which may be connected to traditional lands, resources, language, culture, heritage, and many other areas. The term “Indigenous data” will be applied to any data that may be connected to or relevant to Indigenous communities.

Timelines

• As the strategy tasks are completed, their status will be updated in this document. The strategy goals should be achieved by 3 years, by the year 2026.

• At first, the strategy will be assessed at 6 months then at 1 year, 2 years, 3 years. Following the initial assessments, the strategy will be revised at 5 years (2028), then every 5 years going forward.

INSTITUTIONAL INVOLVEMENT & ACCOUNTABILITY

Individuals Approving the Strategy

After the development and consultation phases, the strategy will be officially approved by certain individuals.

• Director, Applied Research Centre
• Director, Library Services & Learning Commons
• Associate Vice President, Academic

CONSIDERATIONS, PRINCIPLES, & POLICIES

Ethical & Legal Considerations

• Sensitive data will be managed appropriately in a way that meets Tri-Agency requirements and respects the privacy of human research participants.
• Confidentiality and ownership agreements with industry partners will be developed in a way that meets Tri-Agency requirements and respects the needs of industries.
• When research data is linked to human research participants, researchers must ensure that consent has been given by the participants before depositing any data.

Indigenous Data Principles Guiding this Strategy

Fostering Indigenous data sovereignty is a key part of the RDM Strategy at Langara College. Two sets of principles were used to guide how Langara College will approach the management of Indigenous research data alongside Indigenous communities and researchers:

• CARE Principles: Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics
• OCAP^® Principles: Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession
• Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: guiding principles of Inuit Traditional Knowledge
• Principles of Ethical Métis Research: Reciprocal Relationships, “Respect For”, Safe & Inclusive Environments, Recognize Diversity, “Research Should”, and Métis Context

Langara College Strategic Priorities

Langara College is aspiring to advance in five strategic areas by the year 2025, including two areas that are particularly relevant to this document:

• Community Engagement: increasing the number of applied research projects with community partnerships.
• Indigenization: implementing a college-wide indigenous strategy and deepening the relationship with Musqueam and other Indigenous nations.

Relevant External Policies

In addition to the Tri-Agency RDM Policy, several other external policies informed the development of this strategy document:

• The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2)
• Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications (Section 3.2: Publication-Related Research Data)
• FOIPPA: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the data residency amendment permitting public bodies to store information outside of Canada.

Additional Guiding Principles

The Core Strategy Development Team referred to several prominent guiding principles throughout the development process, including:

• Tri-Agency Statement of Principles on Digital Data Management
• FAIR Principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable

Relevant Institutional Policies

Several relevant policies from within Langara College were also consulted, in order to ensure alignment with other practices at the institution:

• B5010 Recorded Information Management
• B3006 Intellectual Property
• B3004 Integrity in Research and Scholarship
• B3005 Conflict of Interest Related to Research
• B5007 Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans
• B5001 Privacy and Access
• 455 Bylaw and Policy Development and Management
• Langara Institutional Research Data Governance Strategy - in development

DEFINITIONS

Below are the definitions for certain terms that have been discussed throughout this document:

• Data Management Plan:

A formal statement describing how research data will be managed and documented throughout a research project and the terms regarding the subsequent deposit of the data with a data repository for long-term management and preservation.

• Repository:

Repositories preserve, manage, and provide access to many types of digital materials in a variety of formats. Materials in online repositories are curated to enable search, discovery, and reuse.

• Research Data:

Data that are used as primary sources to support technical or scientific enquiry, research, scholarship, or artistic activity, and that are used as evidence in the research process and/or are commonly accepted in the research community as necessary to validate research findings and results.

• Research Data Management:

Research data management refers to the storage, access and preservation of data produced from a given investigation. Data management practices cover the entire lifecycle of the data, from planning the investigation to conducting it, and from backing up data as it is created and used to long term preservation of data deliverables after the research investigation has concluded. Specific activities and issues that fall within the category of data management include file naming, data access, data documentation, data storage, data preservation, data sharing, data security, and data privacy.

These definitions are adapted from CODATA’s Research Data Management Terminology [9], shared under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License. Some subtle changes were made.

LOOKING AHEAD

Policy Development

• This strategy document will inform future policies that will be developed at Langara College. Policies will be posted and circulated upon completion.

Future RDM Goals

• Future RDM goals will become apparent once this strategy becomes fully implemented at Langara College. These goals will be added to the strategy over time.

Reassessment of the Strategy

• The RDM strategy will be reassessed and this document revised every 5 years, to ensure that RDM practices are still up to date. This will also help keep the strategy aligned with institutional policies and priorities, as Langara College evolves over time.

Staying Current

• Members of the Core Strategy Development Team will continue attending RDM workshops and meetings to continue growing in RDM knowledge and collaborating with other institutions in this area.

REFERENCES

[1] Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy. Government of Canada. https://science.gc.ca/site/science/en/interagency-research-funding/policies-and-guidelines/research-data-management/tri-agency-research-data-management-policy

[2] Institutional Research Data Management Strategy Development Template. Digital Research Alliance of Canada, hosted on Zenodo. https://zenodo.org/record/5745906#.Y3Qb1HbMI2w

[3] Data Reuse and the Open Data Citation Advantage. H. A. Piwowar & T. J. Vision. https://peerj.com/articles/175/

[4] Langara College 2025 Strategic Plan. https://langara.ca/about-langara/strategic-plan-2025/index.html

[5] Reporting Standards and Availability of Data, Materials, Code and Protocols. Nature Portfolio. https://www.nature.com/nature-portfolio/editorial-policies/reporting-standards

[6] Data Availability. PLOS Journals. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/data-availability

[7] Science Journals: Editorial Policies. https://www.science.org/content/page/science-journals-editorial-policies

[8] Using RISE: The Research Infrastructure Self-Evaluation Framework. https://www.dcc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/documents/publications/UsingRISE_v1_1.pdf

[9] Research Data Management Terminology. CODATA. https://codata.org/initiatives/data-science-and-stewardship/rdm-terminology-wg/rdm-terminology/