Research Data Management
Overview
Covers storage, preservation, and compliance infrastructure for research outputs — data repositories, data management plans, electronic lab notebooks (ELNs), CRIS systems, and persistent identifier infrastructure. The governing question is: “how do I store, preserve, and share this research output compliantly?”
Disambiguation:
research-data-management— repositories, DMPs, ELNs, CRIS, FAIR data, persistent identifiers, long-term preservation. Tools here.knowledge-bases— building queryable knowledge stores, PKM, knowledge graphs, vector databases, RAG infrastructure. See knowledge-bases.data-collection— primary data capture, surveys, participant recruitment. See data-collection.
Tools in this area
| Tool | Vendor | Maturity | Status | Cost (GBP/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| obsidian | Dynalist Inc. | production-ready | trial | 0 |
| ii-commons | II-Commons (open source) | experimental | assess | unknown |
Many further tools to be added — see Research knowledge infrastructure report for the full RDM stack: DMPonline, Figshare, Zenodo, RSpace, LabArchives, eLabFTW, Symplectic Elements, Pure, DSpace, EPrints, Arkivum, OMERO, Chemotion, ORCID, FAIRsharing.
Landscape notes
Jisc frameworks now cover three critical layers: The Research Management Systems DPS covers CRIS and repository procurement (Symplectic Elements, Pure, Figshare, DSpace). The ELN DPS (launched February 2025) covers RSpace, eLabFTW, Labfolder, SciNote. A separate CHEST agreement covers LabArchives (2023–2026). DMPonline is funded by Jisc and covers all UKRI funder templates.
ELN adoption is the critical gap at Russell Group level. Edinburgh (RSpace) and Oxford (LabArchives) are the only institutions with centrally mandated ELNs. Most Russell Group universities have no institutional ELN — individual labs choose their own tools. The Jisc ELN DPS removes the procurement barrier.
UKRI policy change: UKRI’s harmonised research data policy (drafted April 2025, expected early 2026) will mandate FAIR data practices across all research councils. DMPonline, Figshare, Zenodo, and RSpace have the strongest FAIR alignment.
FAIR standouts: OpenAlex (CC0, exemplary), Wikibase (W3C linked open data), RSpace (designed around FAIR lifecycle), Zenodo (DOIs, OpenAIRE, EOSC), OMERO (bioimaging community standard), FAIRsharing (Oxford-based FAIR registry, ELIXIR Recommended).
Vendor risk: Pure (Elsevier) creates dependency at a time when several Russell Group universities have tensions with Elsevier over journal pricing. Institutions should assess whether the Pure ecosystem creates unacceptable lock-in.
Key intelligence
- Research knowledge infrastructure: a landscape review for Russell Group universities — segments 2 (ELNs), 3 (RDM stack), and the Jisc frameworks section are directly relevant
Related capability areas
knowledge-bases · data-collection · literature-review
Sprint history
- 2026-03-04: Stub created — tools added from Q1 2026 AI Landscape Map
- 2026-03-05: Scope narrowed to institutional RDM infrastructure; PKM and knowledge graph tools moved to knowledge-bases
Navigation
All capability areas: Ideation and Grant Writing · Literature Review · Hypothesis Generation · Data Collection · Automatic Transcription · Autonomous Laboratories · Data Analysis · Scholarly Writing · Qualitative Coding · Knowledge Bases · Research Data Management