Research Data Management

Research data management policy
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam considers the careful handling of research data to be very important. The university has therefore formulated a Research Data Management policy which provides guidance for researchers and policy officers at VU Amsterdam.

• VU RDM policy (2020)

Since the VU policy for RDM is formulated in general terms, faculties have worked out more detailed guidelines for their own faculty. These faculty-specific policies can be found below.

• ACTA RDM policy, Academisch Centrum Tandheelkunde Amsterdam (2016, in Dutch)
• Beta RDM policy, Faculty of Science (2022)
• FGB RDM policy, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences (2023)
• FGW RDM policy , Faculty of Humanities (2023)
• FRT RDM policy, Faculty of Religion and Theology (2024)
• FSW RDM policy, Faculty of Social Sciences (2023)
• RCH RDM policy, Faculty of Law (2021)
• SBE RDM policy, School of Business and Economics (2023)

For RDM policies and guidelines at Amterdam UMC, location VUmc, please get in touch with Research Data Management Support at Amsterdam UMC.

Academic integrity complaints procedure
Both VU Amsterdam and Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc employ a joint policy for the handling academic integrity complaints. This policy outlines the steps to be taken in the event of a complaint, the officers who play a role in this procedure, and what should be expected once a complaint has been lodged.

Confidential counselors
​The VU has a list of confidential counsellors who handle academic integrity issues.

Data breach incident report
​From 2016 onwards, any data security breaches (particularly those that have, or are likely to have, serious adverse consequences to the protection of personal data) should be reported immediately to the IT Servicedesk. Read the protocol reporting a data breach (available in Dutch only).

Regulations and Guidelines

Some faculties and departments have their own guidelines for RDM. You can find an overview of such guidelines below.

• ACTA Research Code
• EMGO+ Research Quality Handbook
• FGB:
  • Code of Ethics for Research in the Social and Behavioural Sciences Involving Human Participants
  • Collection of guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• SBE Research Ethics Regulations for Researchers and route map for research data management

• Honesty: you should refrain from fabricating or falsifying data
• Transparency:
  • You should ensure that it is clear to others what data your research is based on, how the data were obtained, what the results are and how you got to these results
  • All steps in your research process must be verifiable (e.g. choice of research question, research design, methodology, sources used), so that it is clear to others how your research was conducted

To live up to these general principles, the Code of Conduct provides the following standards, which are addressed in a DMP, for good research practices related to data management:

• Provide a description of the way in which the collected research data are organised and classified, so that they can be verified and re-used (standard 3.2.10)
• Make research data public upon completion of your research project; if this is not possible, explain why (standards 3.2.11 and 3.4.45)
• Describe the data you have collected and used in your research honestly, scrupulously and transparently (standard 3.3.23)
• Manage your data carefully and store both the raw and processed versions for a period appropriate for your discipline (standard 3.3.24)
• Contribute towards making data FAIR, where possible (standard 3.3.25)
• Be transparent about your methods and working procedures by using e.g. research protocols, logs, lab journals or reports to describe these processes (standard 3.4.35)