Funders are increasingly requiring grant applicants to submit data management plans (DMPs) with their grant proposals, in an effort to promote data sharing and responsible stewardship of data by researchers. Funder requirements have been compiled on a number of web pages:

• Data Management Policies and Guidelines (University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Library System)
• DMP Requirements (DMPTool)
• Managing Your Data - Funding Agency Guidelines (University of Minnesota Libraries)

For the National Science Foundation, note that each directorate has its own data management plan guidelines. 

If your research is funded by a contract rather than a grant, consult with the contracting agency and refer to the terms of your contract to determine whether a data management plan is required.

Data management plans (DMPs) are documents prepared by researchers as they are planning a project and writing a grant proposal. DMPs typically address

• The types of data to be collected
• Data format, including data and metadata standards
• Plans for sharing data, including policies affecting access and reuse of the data by other researchers
• Plans for archiving and preserving the data

More guidance on what should go into a DMP can be found at

• Data Management Planning : Self Assessment (Columbia University Center for Digital Research and Scholarship) ?
• Elements of a Data Management Plan (ICPSR: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research)
• Framework for Creating a Data Management Plan (ICPSR: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research)
• Write a data management plan (MIT Libraries: Data management)
• Data Management Planning (Data One)

DMPTool can guide you through the creation of a data management plan that will meet your funder's requirements. DMPTool is widely used by researchers at institutions around the U.S.

To use DMPTool, click on the DMPTool icon above. Click Your institution under Option 1, and enter University of Pittsburgh, or just Pitt  in the pop-up box. Select the university's name and click Go.

Sample data management plans can be viewed at:

• Data Management Sample Plans (The Odum Institute, UNC Chapel Hill - Data Archive) ?
• Sample NSF Data Management Plans (University of Michigan Library)
• Sample Data Management Plan for Depositing Data with ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Social and Political Research: Data Management and Curation)
• Data Management Plans - Biology, Chemistry (New England Collaborative Data Management Curriculum, Lamar Soutter Library, University of Massachusetts Medical School
• Data Management Sample Plan and Guidance (University of Pittsburgh, Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology (PLE))
• Data Management Planning -- Sample NSF Plans (DataOne)