Nikhef values open science and the re-use of data, software, and other artifacts we generate via our mission and through the programmes, projects, and collaborations. It is a significant producer of scientific research data, and transfer of this knowledge to third parties, i.e., industry, civil society and general public, is an integral part of Nikhef’s mission.
Appropriate data and software management starts with a data management plan (a “DMP”), by caring for your data during yuor research (on managed storage), documenting how the data was collected and what the data formats are, and - at the end of your project - make sure your successor can re-use and interpret the data – and that the data are safe and curated!
Data Management Plan templates
For all NWO and European Commision Horizon proposals you need both a
data management paragraph in your proposal (usually high-level), as well
as a data management plan before starting your project and before you get
any grants transferred to you. Please consult with the Nikhef data
management team at rdm-support@.
For the LHC experiments, there are standard templates that are applicable as long as your data are an integral part of the Experiment data (they do not work for Detector R&D or bespoke projects):
- LHC experiment data management plans full-text templates
- contact DavidG for other programmes (theory, GW, DetRD, ET-EMR, and others)
Data Repositories
Upon completion of a research project, programme, or significant phase thereof, the resulting data should be deposited or snapshooted in a managed repository: our HADRON Institutional Repository, a general purpose international repository such as Zenodo, a national repository, for which long-term sustainability is ensured.
When making the choice, it should be selected to maximise the scientific value of the data for re-use. And it may be appropriate to use different repositories for data from different stages of a study.
Software Licensing
Data and software needs to be given a license to enable re-use: without such a license, formally, none of it can be re-used at all, even though you public it on the web and it is accessible! Appropriate licenses vary, and if you have made additions or changes to existing data or software, the license is almost always determined already. For new data and software, a license needs to be assigned by you (i.e. Nikhef, since the IPR usually lies with the Institute, and not you as an individual).
For data, follow your experiment’s guidance, and in absence thereof, “CC-BY” is usually preferred - except if the data is sensitive (dual-use) or has specific commercial value. For software that we want to be re-used publicly, the most preferred license is Apache 2.0.
For guidance and alternatives, use the NWO-I DCC License Tool (by Reinder Reindersma). Tools are provided as part of the NWO-I Shared Digital Competence Centre (DCC).
Policy documents NWO-I and Nikhef
Nikhef is committed to ensuring careful management and optimal exploitation of the research data, both in the short term and the long term, in alignment with the principles on data management of NWO, and in accordance with its policies.
 | NWO-Institutes-Data-Management-Policy-Framework.pdf | 2017-11-24 | NWO Institutes Data Management Policy Framework |
 | NikhefRDMPolicy-v4-20171207.docx | 2017-12-08 | NikhefRDMPolicy v4 20171207 |
| NikhefRDMPolicy-v4-20171207.pdf | 2017-12-08 | NikhefRDMPolicy v4 20171207 |