Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A research-data librarian providing written comments on a draft DMP before submission.
- Is an instance
A funder peer-review panel scoring the DMP section of an application.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
An automated schema validation of a JSON DMP (compliance check, not review).
- Not an instance
A spelling check.
Editorial commentary
A DMP review is a qualitative evaluation of a Data Management Plan (DMP) by a peer, data steward, librarian, or funder reviewer, judged against criteria such as completeness, plausibility of the storage and sharing arrangements, appropriateness of the chosen metadata standard, and alignment with funder or institutional policy. It is a human, judgement-based process — a reviewer might comment that a proposed storage estimate looks too low for the described dataset, or that a chosen repository does not actually support the access controls the plan promises.
Many research offices now offer pre-submission DMP review as a standing service: a data librarian or RDM specialist reads a draft plan before it goes into a grant application and returns comments, in much the same way a grants office might review a budget justification. This differs in kind from an automated compliance check, which can only confirm structural requirements are present, not whether the plan’s judgement calls are sound — the two are complementary, and an institutional review process commonly runs both.
How it differs from adjacent DMP concepts
- vs. DMP compliance check — a compliance check is automated and structural (does the plan name a repository); a review is qualitative and judgement-based (is that repository the right choice).
- vs. DMP assessment — an assessment applies a published rubric to produce a comparable score across many plans; a review is typically free-text feedback on one specific plan and does not aim for comparability.
References
- Digital Curation Centre, “How to Develop a Data Management and Sharing Plan,” DMP review guidance.
Checking this against the current guidance
Whether DMP review is folded into the proposal’s overall merit score, or checked separately for compliance only, depends on the specific funder’s review process. The answer depends on which funder review process you are working to,
and the page above states the general rule.
It answers with its sources linked, so you can open each one and check it yourself, and it says so when our sources don’t cover a question. Two questions a day are free while you are signed out, no
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Frequently asked questions
Can a proposal be rejected solely for an inadequate DMP?
At some funders yes — a DMP that fails a compliance check can render a proposal non-compliant before it’s even sent to merit review, regardless of the science’s quality.
Who reviews the DMP — the same panel that reviews the science?
This varies; some funders route DMP review through the same scientific panel, others use a separate administrative or data-office review that only checks compliance against required elements.
Does DMP review happen again after the award is made?
Depends on the funder’s post-award oversight — see DMP compliance check for what a post-award review typically covers.
Also known as
DMP feedback · DMP critique
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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