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v2026.1CASRAI Dictionary 714 entries across 20 domains · CC-BY 4.0714 entries · CC-BY 4.0

Dictionary termTrack CStablev2026.2

Data Management Plan (DMP)

A formal document that describes how research data will be collected, processed, described, stored, shared, preserved, and (where appropriate) destroyed across the lifecycle of a research project.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

Examples

Worked examples

Is an instance
A Horizon Europe project DMP delivered at month 6, updated at month 18, and finalised at project end.
Is an instance
An NIH-funded study's Data Management and Sharing Plan submitted with the grant application.

Counter-examples

Looks similar, but isn't

Not an instance
A README file inside a code repository (documents one dataset, not a project-wide management strategy).
Not an instance
An institutional data policy (applies to all staff, not a single project).

Editorial commentary

A DMP is required by most major research funders and institutions as a condition of award. It typically covers data types and volumes, metadata standards, ethical/legal constraints, storage and backup, access and sharing arrangements, responsibilities and resources, and long-term preservation. Historically authored as a narrative PDF or DOCX, DMPs are increasingly produced through structured online tools and exported in machine-actionable formats (see maDMP).

References

Science Europe Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management (2021); NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy (NOT-OD-21-013); Horizon Europe DMP template.

Also known as

DMP · data management and sharing plan · DMSP

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Data Management Plan (DMP)"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/data-management-plan-dmp" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Data Management Plan (DMP)",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/data-management-plan-dmp",
  "description": "A formal document that describes how research data will be collected, processed, described, stored, shared, preserved, and (where appropriate) destroyed across the lifecycle of a research project.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/machine-actionable-data-management-plans-madmp/",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/data-management-plan-dmp",
  "sameAs": [
    "DMP",
    "data management and sharing plan",
    "DMSP"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
}

Referenced across the research world

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