Who is the RDMkit for?
The ELIXIR Research Data Management Kit (RDMkit) has been designed to guide life scientists in their efforts to better manage their research data following the FAIR Principles. It is based on the various steps of the data lifecycle, although not all the steps will be relevant to everyone.
The contents are generated and maintained by the ELIXIR community. More information on how we want to sustain and govern RDMkit can be found on the RDMkit Alliance page.
RDMkit is recommended in the Horizon Europe Program Guide as the "resource for Data Management guidelines and good practices for the Life Sciences."
Why are the FAIR principles needed?
At the heart of FAIR Science lies good data management practice. This is increasingly important as life science research becomes data-intensive and traditional ‘wet labs’ make space for ‘dry (computer) labs’.
With that in mind, the FAIR Principles were designed to improve the infrastructure supporting the reuse of research data. The intention of these principles is to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reuse of digital assets.
The increasing volume, complexity and speed of data creation made scientists rely on computational support exponentially. Therefore, the FAIR Principles place specific emphasis on enhancing the ability of machines to automatically find and use data, as well as supporting its reuse by other scientists, which facilitates knowledge discovery and improves research transparency.
What does the RDMkit aim to achieve?
More than ever, scientists need relevant tools and guidance to better manage their data and hence contribute to making FAIR Science a reality as well as help researchers be more productive for themselves and their collaborators.
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For researchers - RDMkit is a one stop shop of information, advice and signposting to research data management know-how, tools, examples and best practice. Struggling with writing your project data management plan? Then RDMkit can help.
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For data managers in laboratories, facilities or universities - RDMkit is a resource for your researchers, a complement to your own resources and a guide to the specific challenges of RDM for life science researchers.
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For funding agencies and policy makers - RDMkit is the resource researchers can turn to at the proposal stage of the research, throughout their projects and when publishing their results. Remember that the cost of not having FAIR research data has been estimated at €10.2bn annually in Europe. By using RDMkit and better managing data, the outcomes of your investments will be contributing to strengthening regional, national and European economies.
Funding acknowledgement
RDMkit was developed with funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under grant agreement No 871075, as part of the ELIXIR-CONVERGE project. We are grateful to all who contributed their time to producing contents for RDMkit.
How to cite the RDMkit
ELIXIR (2021) Research Data Management Kit. A deliverable from the EU-funded ELIXIR-CONVERGE project (grant agreement 871075). URL: https://rdmkit.elixir-europe.org
The ELIXIR Research Data Management Kit makes all of their materials publicly available under Open Source Initiative licenses. The process documents and data are made available under a CC-BY license. Software are made available under an MIT license. For full details on licensing, please visit our License document.