New requirements for UKRI applications
We are aware that from June 2023 UKRI and the Research Councils are phasing-in new data management requirements for funding applications. We don’t yet have further details but will update these pages when we do. Until then, please check the guidance given by the funder for each funding opportunity, and if you are unsure of the data management requirements when applying, please contact us at research.data@kcl.ac.uk for advice.
What do funders want?
Funder requirements will vary from funder to funder, but all UKRI funders and some of the other major UK funders, such as The Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK, have adopted the principles of data management outlined by the UKRI's Common Principles on Data Policy
These include:
- Publicly funded research should be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner
- Sufficient metadata should be recorded and made openly available to enable other researchers to understand the research and re-use potential of the data
- Published results should always include a statement on how to access the supporting data
- Data with acknowledged long-term value should be preserved and remain accessible and usable for future research
- Legal, ethical and commercial responsibilities should be considered at all stages in the research process
Most funders with data management policies also expect researchers to submit a data management plan (see the Creating a plan tab above) when applying for funding. All King's researchers applying for external funding are required to submit a data management plan in compliance with the university's research data management policy.
Journal publishers and data sharing policies
A growing number of journals now have data sharing policies which stipulate that data supporting published research findings should be deposited in a data centre or repository.
Journals with data sharing policies include:
Nature - authors are expected to make their supporting data publicly available at the point of publication and the "preferred way to share large data sets is via public repositories".
PLOS ONE - "All data and related metadata underlying the findings reported in a submitted manuscript should be deposited in an appropriate public repository, unless already provided as part of the submitted article."
Science - "... appropriate data sets (including microarray data, protein or DNA sequences, atomic coordinates or electron microscopy maps for macromolecular structures, and climate data) must be deposited in an approved database."
A provisional list of journals with data sharing policies is available from the Open Access Directory.
Selected funders' data policies
Funders include:
- AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council)
- BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council)
- CRUK (Cancer Research UK)
- EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
- ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council)
- European Commission (Horizon 2020)
- MRC (Medical Research Council)
- NERC (Natural Environment Research Council)
- NIH (National Institutes of Health)
- NIHR (NHS - National Institute for Health Research)
- STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council)
- UK Research and Innovation
- Wellcome Trust
Find out more detailed information about the above funders
Additional resources:
Further information on funder data management and sharing policies is available from the Digital Curation Centre website: