• Leiden University Research Data Management Regulations 
• Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Research Data Protocol (FSW)
• Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS)
• Institute of Political Science (PoWe)
• Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS)
• Psychology (PSY) and Education and Child Studies (PED)

Leiden University Research Data Management Regulations 

The Research Data Management Regulations (2021) of Leiden University outline a core set of expectations, applicable to all faculties, regarding how employees and affiliates of the university should handle their research data over the course of a given project. These high-level regulations form the basis for more localized Research Data Management (RDM) policies that each of the university's seven faculties has been mandated to develop. In line with this mandate, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW) is currently finalizing its Research Data Protocol, scheduled to be ratified by the FSW Faculty Board in Summer 2024. Importantly, to support domain-specific RDM practices that account for the diversity of disciplines, methods, and epistemological traditions which underpin the many data practices of FSW researchers, each of the faculty's five institutes has its own elaboration of the faculty prototocol.

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Research Data Protocol (FSW)

While remaining aligned with the university regulation, responsible data management will look different depending on the adopted methodology. The purpose of the faculty elaboration is to allow for interpretations that respect these different traditions.  

The first version is presently being co-developed by the research data management team, the institutes, the ethics committees and the faculty board. It should be released in the summer of 2023. In the meantime, the researchers are invited to consult their Institute’s protocol or policy or to contact their data steward.  

For questions regarding the Faculty protocol please contact datamanagement@fsw.leidenuniv.nl. 

Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS)

The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) has a set of institute-specific Research Data Management Guidelines as well as an institute-specific Open Science Policy. The most current version of each of these documents is accessible on the CWTS website. 

The Research Data Management Guidelines are framed by upstream data management policies developed at the faculty (FSW), university, and national levels and outline a set of expectations about how CWTS researchers should go about handling research data throughout the project lifecycle. As such, they contain both a set of general considerations which researchers should take into account when carrying out their work, as well as more specific requirements that must be attended to at different phases of one’s research – before starting a project (e.g., writing a Data Management Plan), while a project is ongoing (e.g., safely storing research data), and once a project is completed (e.g., preserving research data for a mandatory minimum period of time). 

The CWTS Open Science Policy is premised on the institute’s commitment to ‘Practicing what we preach’ and aims to make all research materials emanating from CWTS projects – including scholarly communications, research data, and software/code -- ‘as open as possible, as closed as necessary.’ The policy emphasizes that Open Science is a process; that it takes time; that the transition is a matter of shared responsibility; and that researchers’ efforts to make their practices more ‘open’ should be recognized and rewarded. It also acknowledges that researchers sometimes have to balance ‘openness’ with other scholarly values (like privacy and confidentiality), and thus the ideals of Open Science should not act as a straightjacket that inherently limits the ability to conduct research where competing considerations may prevail.    

Importantly, both policies have been written with the input of the wider CWTS community. They aspire to reflect the diversity of epistemic traditions with which institute members align their work and aim for straightforward uptake irrespective of the research method(s) used in any given project. Finally, these documents apply to activities carried out at CWTS, but are exclusive of CWTS BV initiatives. 

Institute of Political Science (PoWe)

The Institute of Political Science is currently finalizing its first set of Research Data Management and Open Science Policy and Guidelines. It is expected to be ratified by the PoWe Institute Board by Q2 2024 and will come into effect 1 September 2024.

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS)

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology has a data management policy that includes an annotated Leiden University DMP template and an appendix about informed consent.

Psychology (PSY) and Education and Child Studies (PED)

Education and Child Studies and Psychology share common practical resources for data management in relation to writing Data Management Plans and to creating Publication Packages:  

• Annotated Leiden University DMP template on Zenodo; 
• Set of instructions for Archiving Publication Packages at the Institutes of Psychology and Education and Child Studies. 

Each Institute has also developed their own Open Science policy that relates for some part to data management, but more broadly aims at fostering Open Science by summarizing research practices that are either encouraged and/or required during the different research stages within the institutes.  

• Institute of Education and Child Studies – Open Science Policy and Guidelines  
• Institute of Psychology – Open Science Practices and Guidelines