Guidelines for research data

• Make research data openly accessible immediately, and in accordance with the FAIR principles. Currently, the Grant Agreement may require (if Art 29.3 option 1c for health actions targeting public health emergencies is active) that you make data accessible at the latest within 30 days of generation. Given the current circumstances, we ask that you consider going beyond your legal obligations and provide immediate open access to all your relevant research data. The use of harmonised protocols in collaboration with other actors is recommended for this purpose. Open data should be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC BY 4.0) or a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0) or a licence with rights equivalent to the above.

• Develop provisions for access to the data if open access is not possible because of exceptions as described in GA Article 29.3, so long as reasons for exceptions are respected. The principle ‘As open as possible, as closed as necessary’ applies. If open access is not provided to the data or any other research outputs needed to validate the conclusions of a scientific publication, the beneficiary should provide the access – digital or physical – needed for validation purposes to the extent that its legitimate interests or constraints are safeguarded.

• Provide open access to all data that may be useful to researchers. This includes protocols and standards used to collect the data as well as raw and other data that is not necessarily used for publication.

• Deposit quality-controlled research data in a data repository as soon as possible and within the deadlines set out in your data management plan (DMP). Data generated in the action, both those underpinning a scientific publication, but also stand-alone data, should be deposited in a repository (further resources under the Other useful tools and resources section below) that minimally, ensures the following:
  • Persistent and unique identifiers (PIDs)
  • Long term sustainability
  • Metadata
  • Curation and quality assurance
  • Access (e.g. free and easy access to re-use)
  • Security
  • Privacy
  • Common format
  • Provenance (e.g. maintains a detailed logfile of changes to datasets and metadata)

• Provide information via the repository about any research output or any other tools and instruments needed to re-use or validate the data. This includes for example software, workflows, models, materials etc. If possible, provide access to the tools or instruments.

• Include metadata of deposited data under a Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC 0 1.0) or equivalent, in line with the FAIR principles (in particular machine-actionable) and provide information at least about the following:
  • Dataset: description, date of deposit, author(s), venue and (if applicable) embargo;
  • Framework Programme and the action: the terms "European Union” (EU) and "Horizon Europe" or “Euratom”, respectively, the name of the action, acronym, grant number);
  • Licensing terms;
  • Persistent identifiers for the dataset: the author(s) (e.g. ORCID, ResearcherID), and, if possible, for the institution(s) (e.g. ROR) and the grant (e.g. DOI);
  • Where applicable, a persistent identifier for the related publication(s) (e.g. DOI, Handle) and other research outputs. 

Guidelines for Data Management Plans (DMPs)

• Provide a data management plan (DMP) preferably with the proposal or at the latest before grant signature. The data management plan should address the relevant aspects of making the data findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable (FAIR), including:
  • A description of the data generated/collected (including data types) and an estimate of its size.
  • Whether and how the data will be made accessible for verification and re-use, along with relevant security and privacy considerations.
  • How the research data will be managed (organized, curated, accessed, shared, preserved)
  • Timelines of when generated data will be made open access.
  • An estimation of curation and storage/preservation costs; person/team responsible for data management and quality assurance processes. 

• Update your DMP regularly: the DMP should be a living document which is updated and enriched with project outputs as the project evolves (e.g. new data sets, new publications, changes in data access or curation policies, etc.). 

• Register your DMP as a non-restricted, public deliverable that is openly accessible, unless there are reasons (as per GA Article 29.3) to restrict it. 

Guidelines for other research outputs

• Manage other research outputs in line with the FAIR principles, and fully document them in your DMP, to facilitate their re-use in the future and to support actions aiming to link corona virus-related research via dedicated platforms. Every effort should be made for other research outputs to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable.