_1\. Introduction_

#  Introduction

This document describes the data management life cycle for the data to be
collected, processed an/or generated within the ROMSOC project. Carefully
managing research data is an essential part of good research practice and
starts with adequate planning. According to the Open Research Data Pilot open
access to research data that is needed to validate the results presented in
scientific publications has to be guaranteed. Moreover, open access to
scientific peer-reviewed publications is obligatory in the Horizon 2020
programme.

The purpose of this document is to help to make the research data findable,
accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR). It specifies how data will be
handled both during and after the research project and reflects on data
collection, data storage, data security and data retrieval. The Data
Management Plan presented herein has been prepared by taking into account the
template of the Version 3.0 of the “Guidelines on FAIR Data Management in
Horizon 2020”.  1

The ROMSOC Data Management Plan (DMP) is an evolving document that will be
edited and updated throughout the project. This initial version of the DMP
will be officially delivered in project-month 6 (February 2018). It will be
updated over the course of the project and resubmitted to the European
Commission (EC) whenever significant changes arise (e.g. new data, changes in
consortium or consortium composition), and as a minimum as part of the
Progress Report in project-month 13 (September 2018) and as part of the
Periodic Reports in project-months 24 (August 2019) and 48 (August 2021).

#  Data Summary

The ROMSOC network will produce mainly two kinds of research data: models to
describe real-world systems and processes, and algorithms for simulation and
optimization in the form of sophisticated software. A collection of benchmarks
for model hierarchies will be created and these benchmarks will be open
access. Besides, another type of research data are scientific publications
(e.g., technical reports, peer-reviewed publications, software manuals) and
related consolidated simulation results. For text-based documents the data
format PDF/A is binding. ZIP files are used for sets of related files. In this
case an associated publication is saved independently, not as the content of
the ZIP file, so that it can be indexed and the content can be found via full-
text search.

#  FAIR data

In 2014, the Technische Universitat Berlin (TU Berlin) established a research
data infrastructure. It was devel-¨ oped by the Service Center Research Data
and Publications (SZF); a virtual organization, where the University Library,
the IT-Service-Center tubIT and the Research Department of TU Berlin cooperate
to support the researchers of TU Berlin in all questions concerning their
research data (https://www.szf.tuberlin.de/). The research data infrastructure
complies with the requirements of the funding organizations, e.g. the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) or the European Commission (EC). The technical
core of the research data infrastructure at TU Berlin is the institutional
repository DepositOnce. The repository DepositOnce is based on the open source
repository software DSpace. In DepositOnce consolidated research data and all
information necessary to verify or reuse the data (e.g. scripts, calculations,
software etc.) as well as publications can be stored. DepositOnce provides a
workflow for the description and upload of the data files. There is a record
for each data set (research data as well as publications). Each record has a
persistent identifier (Digital Object Identifier (DOI)). Research data may be
linked to the corresponding publications and vice versa via their DOIs. Other
core functions of DepositOnce are versioning and an embargo function (i.e. a
blocking period for the publication of full texts and research data until a
certain date).

_3.1 Making data findable, including provisions for metadata_

##  Making data findable, including provisions for metadata

DepositOnce automatically assigns a DOI to every submitted record and each of
its versions for a persistent identification of the data. To get DOIs, the
University Library (as head of SZF) has concluded a contract with the DOI
registration agency DataCite. DepositOnce uses the standard metadata schema
Qualified Dublin Core to describe the stored data. To meet the requirements of
its service partners, e.g. the DOI registration agency DataCite or Open Access
initiatives like OpenAIRE, some additional qualifiers have been added. Based
on the principle of using standard metadata schemes in DepositOnce, metadata
can easily be converted into other metadata schemes. All metadata in
DepositOnce are made publicly available in the sense of Open Access. To enable
search engines and service providers to index contents stored in DepositOnce,
all reasonable steps are taken: like generating sitemaps, offering an OAI-PMH
interface etc. DepositOnce is included in common search engines, e.g. Google
Scholar, BASE – Bielefeld Academic Search Engine and others. Furthermore the
DOI registration agency DataCite itself acts as a data provider: While
registering a DOI all important metadata are sent to DataCite. Both nationally
and internationally defined standards and interfaces – such as the Dublin Core
Metadata Initiative, the regulations of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) or
the German National Library’s xMetaDissPlus format – are used for the formal
and content-related indexing of the digital objects. Metadata is captured by
means of an upload form into which the authors enter the data. In doing so,
the authors attribute a class according to the Dewey Decimal Classification
(DDC) as well as free keywords in German and English.

According to the principle of ”Good Scientific Practice” (e.g. in order to
guarantee correct citation) the data file and the descriptive metadata cannot
be changed after they have been published in DepositOnce. One of the core
functions of DepositOnce is versioning, which allows new versions of published
records while previous versions are kept available. To every new version, a
new persistent identifier (DOI) is assigned. Previous and new versions are
linked to each other automatically.

##  Making data openly accessible

DepositOnce is committed to the open access concept and is one of the tools
for implementing open access objectives in line with the _Berlin Declaration
on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities_ :

  * The metadata of digital objects stored on DepositOnce is freely accessible on the Internet and may be obtained, saved and made accessible to third parties via open interfaces that are accessible to anyone. The metadata is subject to the CC0 license. 

  

  * After publication, the digital objects are normally freely accessible. This applies unconditionally to publications. Access protection may be arranged for research data; to this end, DepositOnce has a management system for access rights. 

  

In order to ensure permanent access to the digital objects, the latter are
assigned quotable, lasting indicators in the form of Digital Object
Identifiers, which are registered and administered at DataCite. Once
published, digital objects cannot be changed. DepositOnce provides a
versioning feature to document new findings. A search feature for both the
bibliographic metadata and the full texts is available on the pages of
DepositOnce. Digital objects can be researched in local, regional and
transregional library catalogs and search engines as well as via the DataCite
Metadata Store and the academic search engine BASE. To increase the visibility
of its service, DepositOnce is registered with the Registry of Open Access
Repositories (ROAR), the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and
the Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3Data). As a registered OAI Data
Provider, DepositOnce fulfills the requirements of OAI-PMH Version 2.0. The
base URL is https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/oai/request.

##  Making data interoperable

The production of high quality, portable, and easy-to-use scientific software
must heavily rely on rigorous implementation and documentation standards. To
ensure such high quality demands, the Working Group on

_3.4 Increase data re-use (through clarifying licences)_

Software (WGS) produced in 1990 the Implementation and Documentation Standards
[1] for the SLICOT  2  library (Subroutine Library in Control and Systems
Theory), a library of widely used control system design algorithms. All
software that is develop within the ROMSOC project will follow these
implementation and documentation standards. The collection of benchmarks for
model hierarchies that will form the basis for interdisciplinary research and
for the training program in the ROMSOC project will follow the standards set
by the SLICOT Benchmark Collection [2] and the collection of benchmark
examples for model reduction of linear time invariant dynamical systems [3].
By following these software documentation and implementation standards a
uniform, understandable user interface is ensured that is fundamental to user
acceptance of the developed software routines and necessary to ensure
portability, reliability, and ease of maintenance of the software itself.

##  Increase data re-use (through clarifying licences)

Any publication at DepositOnce requires that the author permanently transfers
to the Operator (i.e. the SZF) the non-exclusive right to reproduce the
publication and make it publicly accessible. Any printed or electronic
publication of the research results – with amendments or in excerpts, if
applicable –prior to, or after their publication at DepositOnce remains at the
absolute discretion of the author. The transfer of the non-exclusive right of
use entitles the Operator of DepositOnce to permanently

  * make accessible to the public electronic copies of the digital object (upon expiry of the news embargo, if any) and, if need be, to modify the digital object (with regard to its form) in order to enable its display on future computer systems; 

  

  * announce and transmit digital objects to third parties, for instance, as part of the libraries’ national collection mandates, particularly for the purpose of long-term archiving; 

  

  * transfer agreed rights and obligations to another repository (for instance, any repository succeeding DepositOnce). This also entitles DepositOnce to assign to a third party the right to supply the digital object to the public (e.g., through a facility specializing in enabling the long-term availability of such objects). 

  

In addition, beyond the German copyrights, authors may transfer certain rights
of use to the general public by means of suitable open-content licenses (for
instance a Creative Commons license or software licenses such as GPL, BSD, MIT
or Apache licenses). For publications the Creative Commons license
‘Attribution CC BY’ will be used.

#  Allocation of resources

The service of DepositeOnce itself is free of charge. Costs may arise for
additional storage space. According to the policy for safeguarding good
scientific practice of TU Berlin, SZF as the service provider of DepositOnce
guarantees the storage of the research data for at least 10 years. In
cooperation with other partners and institutions (e.g. the Zuse Institute
Berlin and the Kooperativer Bibliotheksverbund Berlin-Brandenburg); SZF will
develop a concept for long term preservation. According to the concept of the
research data infrastructure the task-sharing between the stakeholders is as
following:

  * The researchers are responsible for the quality check of the research results: After having collected a large amount of data during the project they select those data that shall be preserved. In the submission process to DepositOnce they describe these data and upload the data files. Researchers are also responsible to create new versions of published submissions if necessary. 

  

  * SZF is responsible for the formal check of the submitted research data: The uploaded data files are not published immediately but stored in an intermediate store. SZF checks e.g. whether the metadata fields are filled properly, whether PDFs can be opened, etc. If there are any questions, the SZF-Team contacts the submitter of the data. Accepted submissions are published by SZF and stored in DepositOnce. 

  

_5\. Data security_

  * tubIT is responsible for the IT infrastructure which includes safe storage and the accessibility of all data. 

  

#  Data security

The DepositOnce servers that store the research data and their metadata are
part of the security concept of tubIT. Every new IT service at TU Berlin has
to go through an approval procedure that is conducted by the Data Protection
Officer of TU Berlin and the Staff Council. DepositOnce has successfully
passed this procedure. DepositOnce uses the virtual server infrastructure of
tubIT that is secured by several firewalls. All servers, networks and backup
services are maintained by tubIT. The security concept strictly restricts any
physical access to the data center and any remote access to the servers. The
metadata as well as the research data are backed-up at least once a day in
form of database dumps and files. A cronjob verifies file checksums once a
week and ensures the data integrity. The administrators at the University
Library are responsible for the further enhancement and development of the
software. They are also responsible for the recovery of the DepositOnce
services out of the backup. Digital objects are stored for the long term, that
is, in accordance with the recommendations of the German Research Foundation,
for at least ten years (see _Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Academic
Practice_ at TU Berlin). In cooperation with a suitable facility specialized
in long-term archiving, the Operator aims to digitally preserve the digital
objects stored in DepositOnce. The digital preservation of publications is
ensured through the long-term archiving system of the German National Library.

#  Ethical aspects

In order to protect the participants’ identity all contents that are stored in
DepositOnce have to be anonymized according to the policy for safeguarding
good scientific practice of TU Berlin. When submitting a data file in
DepositOnce the submitter has to confirm that the research data which has been
submitted do not contain any personal data. If personal data are contained
they must be anonymized completely according to canonical standards and the
human subjects must have consented to the data collection as well as to the
publication of the (anonymized) data. Ownership of results as well as access
rights to Background and Software are regulated in the Consortium Agreement
(Section 8 and 9). Any ethical or legal issues that can have an impact on data
sharing will be discussed in the context of the ethical reports (in project-
month 12, 24 and at the end of the project).

#  Other issues

We follow the _Guidelines on FAIR Data Management in Horizon 2020_ , i.e.,
research data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. TU
Berlin doesn’t have a Research Data Management policy. However, since 2002 TU
Berlin has a directive for safeguarding good scientific practice:
_”Richtlinien zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis an der TU Berlin”_
. We also respect the research data policy of Friedrich-AlexanderUniversitat
Erlangen-N¨ urnberg (FAU).¨  3