Canadian policy: Data management requirement takes effect in March

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Canadian institutions are preparing for a research data management policy developed by three major federal granting agencies to go into effect this March. The policy of the Tri-Agency Council, comprising the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), asserts that “research data collected through the use of public funds should be responsibly and securely managed and be, where ethical, legal and commercial obligations allow, available for reuse by others.” Dryad would be pleased to assist any Canadian institution seeking a solution to help support their affiliated researchers with this policy.

White text on a green background featuring a quote from the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy, reading “Research data collected through the use of public funds should be responsibly and securely managed and be, where ethical, legal and commercial obligations allow, available for reuse by others.”

As “the primary mechanism through which the Government of Canada supports research and training at post-secondary institutions” the Tri-Agency Council’s policies affect millions of dollars in research grants each year. The policy requires that any institution eligible to receive funding from the agencies develop and publicly post comprehensive research data management (RDM) policies that recognize “data as an important research output.” Institutions are also expected to provide or support access to “repository services or other platforms that securely preserve, curate and provide appropriate access to research data.” 

Dryad is listed among the repositories the Tri-Agency policy references as trusted options for sharing data. Data published with Dryad have a natural conduit to national and institutional data repositories through our open API. Canada’s Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) announced its integration with Dryad in July 2021. FRDR will programatically harvest Dryad data from authors affiliated with Canadian institutions. Dryad member the University of British Columbia (UBC) has developed an integration with their institutional Dataverse repository to systematically harvest data published by their researchers. 

As a community-led organization that has published over 50,000 datasets created by researchers around the world, Dryad provides reassurance to institutions looking for a trusted partner in complying with funder policies and promoting best practices for open research.

Learn more about why academic and research institutions in Canada and beyond support Dryad and take a detailed look at how Dryad complies with U.S. guidance, including the NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing, the OSTP memorandum on ensuring free, immediate, and equitable access to federally funded research and the National Science and Technology Council’s Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research. 

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