Research Data Management and DMP requirements

Institutional policies and guidelines

DMP requirements, or calls for the use of DMPs, are commonly part of Open Science policies or guidelines for research data management. Here are links to current institutional policies of Norwegian Higher Education institutions. Currently, we have only included the partners of this DMP support project in the list. For other organisations, you can find an overview in the RDM resources in Norway (RDMkit): Support services.

• NTNU Guidelines for policy for Open Science

  Research projects led by researchers at NTNU must have a data management plan that satisfies the requirements of any relevant funders. The data management plan should be set up early in the research project, and no later than six (6) months after commencement. As a minimum requirement, the data management plan should contain the core elements defined by Science Europe and describe the following:

  • Data collection/generation and methods
  • Formats, organization and metadata,
  • Storage during the project
  • Archiving and sharing
  • Rights, licences, privacy and ethics
  • Costs and responsibilities

• UiB Policy for Open Science

  All research projects lead by researchers at UiB will have a data management plan.

• UiO Policies and guidelines for research data management

  Research data shall be provided with a data management plan.

  • The data management plan is a document that describes how the data is to be managed both during the research project and after it has been completed
  • The data management plan shall describe how the data should be made available in accordance with international standards
  • The scientific staff shall have a conscious attitude as to how research data considered as not having long-term value should be managed or destroyed after a certain period of time

• UiT Principles and guidelines for management for research data

  The researcher must set up a Data Management Plan at an early phase of the project and preferably within six months after start-up.

  • Retningslinjer for oppfølging av datahåndteringsplaner

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Funder policies and guidelines

The Research Council of Norway

• From 2023, Open Science is assessed in grant applications. While a DMP is usually written at a later stage, making oneself familiar with the assessment criteria is recommended.

• The Research Council of Norway: Sharing research data (webpage)

  Requirements for data management plan in projects that manage data - excerpts from the linked to webpage:

  • A good data management plan makes the research data easier to retrieve and understand for others, creates awareness of data security, costs and quality, makes the research reproducible and increases the potential for reuse. The data management plan should be a living document that is regularly updated throughout the life of the project.
  • The requirement for a data management plan for projects receiving funding from the Research Council of Norway was introduced in 2018.
  • Projects must submit the first version of the plan when revising the grant application. An updated version is delivered together with the project’s final report.
  • It is the responsibility of the Project Owner to approve that the plan is in line with the institution’s requirements and guidelines before it is submitted.
  • Data management plans should, as far as possible, be public and published openly so that academic communities can better follow their peers’ practices.
  • Based on the data management plans received, the Research Council will accept any costs for managing data as part of the operating costs of the projects we support.

• The Research Council of Norway. (2017). Policy for Open Access to Research Data

  The Research Council’s guidelines in seven headlines (page 6f):

  • Research data must be stored/archived in a safe and secure manner
  • Research data must be made accessible for reuse
  • Research data should be made accessible at an early stage
  • Research data must be accompanied by standardised metadata
  • Research data provided with a license for access, reuse, and redistribution
  • Research data should be made accessible at the lowest possible cost
  • The management of research data must be described in a data management plan

• The Research Council of Norway. (2020). Policy for Open Science

  The Research Council will (page 10):

  • encourage adherence to the FAIR principles for data and metadata resulting from Research Council-funded projects.
  • require that datasets are made accessible along with their accompanying protocols, methods, models, algorithms, software and source code.
  • take steps to ensure that direct expenses associated with making data openly accessible according to the FAIR principles are clearly identified in grant applications.
  • require that medical and health-related clinical trials involving human subjects are registered in an approved database prior to project start-up.

• The Research Council of Norway. (2026). General Terms and Conditions for R&D Projects

  Key terms (p. 1f):

  • Research-generated data: Registered records, notes and reported information in the form of numbers, text, visual and audio files that are generated by or emerge in the course of the research project.

  Reports (p. 8f):

  • In general: The Project Owner shall store the final report and project data in a safe and secure manner for at least 10 years after the conclusion of the contract period.
  • Final reports: The project owner shall specify where the project’s research data and results data have been made available. This applies to all documentation necessary for reuse, including source code.
  • Final reports: Projects that have submitted a data management plan must append a link to the latest version of this plan to the final report.

  Publication and archiving (p. 11f):

  • Publication of project results: Research data and results data, as well as all documentation necessary for reuse, including source code,must be made publicly available after the conclusion of the project, unless this is prevented by the terms and conditions of the grant letter, public rules, or special circumstances.
  • Archiving of project results: The Project Owner shall ensure that all research data and results data, including all documentation necessary for reuse, including source code, is stored in a secure digital archive. Such archiving is to be carried out as soon as possible and at the latest two years following the conclusion of the project period. The Research Council may require that all such data, including the necessary documentation for reuse of data (metadata), is stored in designated, secure national or international archives, unless there are special reasons for otherwise, or contractual terms or public regulations prevent it.

Specific RCN funding schemes

• FRIPRO In Norwegian

Krav til oppdatering av innvilgede søknader:

• For alle prosjekter som håndterer data, skal prosjektansvarlig utarbeide en datahåndteringsplan i forbindelse med revidert søknad

• Researcher Project for Experienced Scientists (FRIPRO), 2025 call and Researcher Project for Early Career Scientists (FRIPRO), 2025 call

  • Ethics: The Research Council requires a high standard of research ethics in the projects we fund, and ethics is included in the assessment criterion for Research Quality. In the template for the project description, there is a separate section that deals with this. The description of ethics is first and foremost an assurance to the peers that there is a plan in place to deal with the most important ethical dilemmas in the project. If you need to describe this in more detail, this can be done elsewhere in the project description, for example under method selection, or you can do so in the data management plan(s) (see below).
  • Conditions for funding: If you are awarded funding for the project, you must update the application with extended budgets. There are also requirements for research security, action plans for gender equality, open access for scientific articles, data management plans, storage of research data and registration of studies involving humans.

European Commission

Horizon Europe

NB! Although the questionnaire we provide for DMPs covers the requirements from Horizon Europe, exporting documents according to the recommended template for Horizon Europe projects (see below) is in an experimental stage. Using it for these projects is therefore advised with reservations. If you wish to test the Horizon Europe export, please contact your local support staff. The guidance is still relevant, including the pre-award considerations.

• Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (European Commission). (2021). Horizon Europe Open Science Fact Sheet.

  • Horizon Europe will require immediate open access to all scientific publications and responsible research data management so that data are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable (FAIR). Data will be made ‘as open as possible, but will be allowed to stay as closed as necessary’, safeguarding legitimate interests or constraints.
  • The criteria for evaluating research proposals under Horizon Europe will take into account the quality and appropriateness of the open science practices in the submitted proposals.

• European Commission. (Version 5.1, September 2025). Horizon Europe Programme Guide: Open Science

  Part 17. Open Science - excerpts from the Programme Guide (p. 42ff):

  • In Horizon Europe, open science practices are considered in the evaluation of proposals, under ‘Excellence’ and under the ‘Quality and efficiency of implementation’ [This does not apply to the ERC programme that does not include open science in the evaluation. It also does not include EIC transition calls where open science practices are exceptionally evaluated under ‘impact’.]
  • There are mandatory open science practices, which are required for all projects through the Model Grant Agreement and/or through the work programme or call conditions, and recommended practices (all open science practices that are not mandatory).

  Mandatory open science practices - excerpts from the Programme Guide (p. 43):

  • responsible management of research data in line with the FAIR principles of ‘Findability’, ‘Accessibility’, ‘Interoperability’ and ‘Reusability’, notably through the generalised use of data management plans, and open access to research data under the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’, under the conditions required by the grant agreement
  • information about the research outputs/tools/instruments needed to validate the conclusions of scientific publications or to validate/re-use research data

  How should you address open science practices in your proposal? - excerpts from the Programme Guide (p. 44ff):

  • Research data management (RDM): RDM is mandatory in Horizon Europe for projects generating or reusing data. If you expect to generate or reuse data and/or other research outputs (except for publications), you should address in a summary how you will manage your data along the FAIR principles.
  • A data management plan (DMP) is not required at the proposal submission stage.
  • By exception, in cases of a public emergency and if the work programme requires so, you should submit a full DMP already with the submission of the proposal or at the latest by the signature of the grant agreement.
  • A template for a DMP is provided under the reporting templates in the Funding & Tenders Portal Reference Documents page. Its use is recommended but not mandatory.

  Research data management and management of other research outputs - excerpts from the Programme Guide (p. 47ff):

  • Research data management (RDM) is the process within the research lifecycle that includes the data collection or acquisition, organisation, curation, storage, (long-term) preservation, security, quality assurance, allocation of persistent identifiers (PIDs), provision of metadata in line with disciplinary requirements, licencing, and rules and procedures for sharing of data. RDM is an essential element in any project that generates, collects or re-uses data.
  • RDM, in line with the FAIR principles is a requirement that should be carried out regardless of whether the data generated and re-used in the project is intended to be openly accessible, or if access restrictions are foreseen.
  • RDM and the FAIR principles can be applied to research outputs other than data (i.e. workflows, protocols, software, samples, etc).
  • Trusted repositories assume a central role in the Horizon Europe for the deposition of and access to publications and research data. For a definition of trusted repositories in Horizon Europe please refer to the AGA (article 17). Proposers, with the help of data and research support staff (e.g. data stewards, data librarians, etc), should check whether the repositories that they plan to deposit their data have the features of trusted repositories, and justify this accordingly in their Data Management Plans.
  • Data management plans (DMPs) are a cornerstone for responsible management of research outputs, notably data and are mandatory in Horizon Europe for projects generating and/or reusing data. DMPs are formal documents that outline from the start of the project all aspects of the research data lifecycle, which includes its organisation and curation, and adequate provisions for its access, preservation, sharing, and eventual deletion, both during and after a project. Writing a DMP is part of the methodology of the project, since good data management makes the work more efficient, saves time, contributes to safeguarding information and to increasing the value of the data among the beneficiaries themselves and others, during and after the research.
  • A DMP should be a living document, which is delivered by month 6, and then updated and enriched as the project evolves.
  • A good practice regarding DMPs is to register them as a non-restricted public deliverables to make them openly accessible, unless legitimate reasons exist to keep them confidential.

• European Commission (Version 2.0, April 2025). Horizon Europe Annotated Grant Agreement

  Open science: Research data management - excerpts from the AGA (p. 389ff):

  • Beneficiaries must manage responsibly the digital research data generated in the action (‘data’) in line with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles. They should also ensure open access to research data via a trusted repository under the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’.
  • Generated data also includes re-used data that have been processed or modified in a systematic or methodical way.
  • The requirements for research data management apply only to data that are generated in the course of the action. Beneficiaries should also consider re-used data when developing their data management plans (DMPs), if they form part of their research and to the extent possible.

  How to meet the research data management and open access requirements - excerpts from the AGA (p. 390ff):

  • Beneficiaries must do the following to meet the requirements: 1. establish a data management plan (DMP), addressing important aspects of research data management AND 2. deposit the data in a trusted repository and ensure open access through the repository, as soon as possible and within the deadlines set out in the DMP
  • Beneficiaries must submit a DMP as a mandatory project deliverable (normally within 6 months after grant signature). An updated DMP deliverable must then be produced mid-project (for projects longer than twelve months) and at the end of the project (where relevant).
  • Writing a DMP is an activity directly linked to the methodology of the research, i.e. good data management will make the work more efficient/save time, contribute to safeguarding information and to increasing the impact and the value of the data among the beneficiaries and others, during and after the research.
  • Beneficiaries should maintain the DMP as a living document and update it over the course of the project whenever significant changes arise.
  • The data must be deposited in a trusted repository, ensuring open access via the repository, as soon as possible and within the deadlines set out in the DMP.
  • Data underpinning a scientific publication should be deposited at the latest at the time of publication, and in line with standard community practices.
  • For calls with a condition relating to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), data must be deposited in trusted repositories that are federated in the EOSC in compliance with the EOSC requirements
  • Open access is required as the default for research data under the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’. [Examples provided for legitimate reasons to keep data closed]
  • Research data in open access must be licensed under the latest available version of a Creative Commons Attribution International Public Licence (CC BY) requiring attribution of authorship, or a licence providing equivalent rights, or under a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0) or equivalent (which waives any rights to the data).

• European Commission. (Version 5.1, 22 January 2026). Horizon Europe Programme Standard Application Form (HE RIA and IA) Part B

  Methodology - excerpts from the Standard Application Form (Part B p. 9ff):

  • Describe how appropriate open science practices are implemented as an integral part of the proposed methodology. Show how the choice of practices and their implementation are adapted to the nature of your work, in a way that will increase the chances of the project delivering on its objectives [e.g. 1 page]. If you believe that none of these practices are appropriate for your project, please provide a justification here.
  • Proposals selected for funding under Horizon Europe will need to develop a detailed data management plan (DMP) for making their data/research outputs findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) as a deliverable by month 6 and revised towards the end of a project’s lifetime.

  Work plan and resources - excerpts from the Standard Application Form (Part B, p. 9):

  • list of deliverables: (…) You are advised to include a distinct work package on ‘project management’, and to give due visibility in the work plan to ‘data management’ ‘dissemination and exploitation’ and ‘communication activities’, either with distinct tasks or distinct work packages. List of deliverables - footnote Part B, p. 18):
  • You must include a data management plan (DMP) and a ‘plan for dissemination and exploitation including communication activities as distinct deliverables within the first 6 months of the project. The DMP will evolve during the lifetime of the project in order to present the status of the project’s reflections on data management.

• European Commission. (Version 1.1, April 2022). Template: EU grants - Data management plan (HE) (MS Word document)

  • A template for a DMP is provided under the reporting templates in the Funding & Tenders Portal Reference Documents
  • Aspects to be addressed are broadly in line with the requirements set forth in Science Europe’s Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management (see Programme Guide p. 49 for details)

ERC Work Programme

• ERC Work Programme 2026

  Objectives and Principles of ERC Funding - excerpts from the work programme (p. 8):

  • commitment to open science, including open access to the published output of research, as well as access to research data and related products.

  1.7.3 Open Science - excerpts from the work programme (p. 35ff):

  • Beneficiaries of ERC grants funded under this Work Programme will be covered by the provisions on research data management as set out in the Model Grant Agreement used for ERC actions. In particular, whenever a project generates research data, beneficiaries are required to manage it in line with the principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability as described by the ‘FAIR principles’ initiative, and establish a data management plan within the first six months of project implementation.
  • Open access to research data should be ensured under the principle “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”.

• ERC Frontier Research Grants: Informations for Applicants to the Advanced Grant Call (v6.0, 20 May 2026)

  Open Science - excerpts (p. 7):

  • The provisions on research data management of the MGA Annex 5 (for ERC actions) will apply to beneficiaries funded under the ERC Work Programme 2026. In particular, whenever a project generates research data, beneficiaries are required to manage it in line with the principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability as described by the FAIR principles’ initiative, and establish a data management plan within the first six months of project implementation. Open access to research data should be ensured under the principle ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary’. These provisions are designed to facilitate access, re-use and preservation of the research data generated during the ERC funded research work.

MSCA Postdoctoral fellowships

• MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships Handbook - Call 2026

  Open Science practices - excerpts from the Handbook (p. 19ff):

  • Describe how appropriate open science practices are implemented as an integral part of the proposed methodology. Show how the choice of practices and their implementation is adapted to the nature of your work in a way that will increase the chances of the project delivering on its objectives. If you believe that none of these practices are appropriate for your project, please provide a justification here.
  • Proposals selected for funding under Horizon Europe will need to develop a detailed data management plan (DMP) for making their data/research outputs findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) as a deliverable by month 6 and revised towards the end of a project’s lifetime. The DMP should describe how research outputs (especially research data) generated and/or collected during the project will be managed so as to ensure that they are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable
  • For guidance on open science practices and research data management, please refer to the relevant section of the HE Programme Guide on the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Further resources