Data Management

The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance is committed to fostering sound data management practices to facilitate new agri-food and rural research. It supports the University of Guelph's commitment to research excellence, which includes managing data to the highest standards throughout the research data life cycle.

Why DMPs?

Researchers awarded funding through the Alliance research program must complete a data management plan (DMP) for their awarded project(s).

A DMP summarizes how data generated over the course of a research project will be stored, shared and maintained. It can help improve the effectiveness, efficiency and organization of a research project as well as help ensure data is ready for preservation or sharing at the end of a project. (Note: the Alliance requires all data, metadata and code generated using Alliance funds or resources to be preserved and available to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness [OMAFA] upon request.)

Developing a DMP ensures that you have thought through every aspect of best practices in data management and that your project complies with the data management policies of the Alliance. See sections below on data preservation and OMAFA access to project data for more information.

To learn more about data management planning, visit the University of Guelph Library's DMP page.

To learn more about the University of Guelph’s Research Data Management Strategy, visit the University of Guelph Office of Research webpage.

To learn more about Indigenous data sovereignty, visit the University of Guelph's Indigenous Data Sovereignty webpage.

Data preservation

All research data, metadata and code that are generated using Alliance funds or resources must be preserved in a non-proprietary file format and available to provide to OMAFA upon request. The best way to preserve your data, metadata and code is to deposit it in a recognized repository, such as the Agri-Environmental Research Data Repository at the University of Guelph.

Please note that depositing your data in a repository does not require you to share your data; data may be deposited in a repository but not shared. See 'data deposit and data sharing', below, for more information.

Data deposit and data sharing

The Alliance strongly encourages researchers to deposit all research data, metadata and code into a recognized repository. The selected data repository/repositories should be described in the DMP. The location of the deposited data (e.g., URL or the digital object identifier (DOI)) must be provided in the Final Report.

Researchers are encouraged to provide public access to the data deposited where ethical, legal, and commercial requirements allow. Sharing research data supports research transparency, replication, and reuse of data. A University of Guelph research and scholarship librarian can help researchers identify an appropriate repository as part of their DMP and discuss options for making project data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable).

OMAFA access to project data

For all recipients of funding and resources from the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, OMAFA is entitled to request and be granted access to all data generated using Alliance funds. You must contact Alliance research program administration before entering into any agreement that may limit the Ministry's right to access data generated as part of an Alliance-supported project, including non-disclosure agreements or third-party data agreements. Please contact Stacy Favrin, Senior Manager, OMAFA/UofG Research Programs (favrinst@uoguelph.ca) for guidance before entering into any access-limiting agreements.

Completing your DMP

For Alliance-supported research projects, DMPs are a condition of award. Please refer to your award agreement for details.

All DMPs must be reviewed and endorsed by the University of Guelph Library. The Library will submit your DMP to the Office of Research, Agri-Food Partnership on your behalf.

Instructions

1. Use the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC) DMP Assistant online tool to create your DMP with the University of Guelph Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance Template 2024-2025. Instructions for using the DMP Assistant tool are available in the 2026 DMP Manual.
2. Send the PDF of your draft DMP (including the project details coversheet) to the University of Guelph Library (lib.research@uoguelph.ca) for feedback. A research and scholarship librarian will provide feedback within a week of receiving your plan. We recommend submitting your DMP promptly to allow yourself time to address any recommendations arising from the Library’s review.
3. Address any recommended changes and resubmit your DMP to the Library for review. You can update your DMP using the DMP Assistant.
4. Once the Library endorses your DMP, they will email your Library-endorsed DMP to the Alliance (rescoord@uoguelph.ca) and will copy you.

To assist researchers with developing a DMP, the University of Guelph Library offers Alliance-specific supports and resources. See below for details.