Data Management Plans and Data Centers

Data management plans, data sharing plans and the like are now required by funders worldwide as part of research proposals. Concerned with promoting the notion of open scientific data, funders view such plans as the framework for satisfying the generally accepted requirements for data generated in funded research projects, among them that it be accessible, usable, standardized to the degree possible, secure and stable. This paper examines the origins of data management plans, their requirements and issues they raise for data centers and HLT resource development in general.