The Research Data Management Workbook

The Research Data Management Workbook is made up of a collection of exercises for researchers to improve their data management. The Workbook contains exercises across the data lifecycle, including: 

• Evaluate a laboratory notebook
• Write a project-level README.txt
• Create a data dictionary
• Set up a file organization system
• Create a file naming convention
• Pick storage and backup systems
• Test your backup
• Write a living data management plan (DMP)
• Determine data stewardship
• Pick a data repository
• Share data
• Prepare data for future use
• Convert data files types
• Create an Archive folder
• Separate from the institution

Every exercise comes with a description of its value within data management, instructions on how to do the exercise, original source of the exercise (when applicable), and the exercise itself.

Update 2025-07-09: the downloadable versions of the Workbook are no longer available as the Workbook is being traditionally published by Pelagic Publishing in December 2025. The Workbook is still available in its online edition under a CC BY-NC license.