LibGuides: Research Data Management: Costing

Data Management Plans (DMPs) - Costs

The cost of data management must documented in the Data Management Plan before the start of the project.

These should be documented in the following sections/questions of the BU Data Management Plan (DMP) template:

Storage, back-up, and security

Estimate storage space requirements.
Where will your digital research data or project documentation be stored, short or long-term? > Electronic storage

Data sharing

Are there any costs associated with depositing your data in your chosen data repository?

Costing data management

The costs of data management need to be taken into account in the planning stages and included in funder bid submissions. Typical costs include:

Any storage costs if SharePoint is not considered appropriate. For example, due to inadequate capacity for the amount of data you expect to generate.
The cost of depositing data in a long-term data repository. Some repositories charge for data deposit. There is no charge to the researcher for depositing in BORDaR, but is generally not suitable for anything over 4GB.
Equipment costs such as portable storage or specialist recording devices.
Costs associated with data preparation, such as the time taken to transcribe audio recordings or to anonymise datasets before deposit in a repository.

The UK Data Service data management costing tool and checklist is recommended to help you consider and estimate your costs.

Retention and preservation of research data in accordance with funder requirements is a specific research cost. Where permitted by funders, the costs of data management should be identified and included in the DMP.