Data Management Best Practices

UC San Diego has put together a useful resource called "Best Practices for Managing Data." Some specific recommendations do not apply particularly well to every discipline or research project, but overall, following the guidelines will help save you time and prevent data loss well into the future.

Included in the UCSD Best Practices are guidelines on:

  • Storage - where to store data and how
  • Backup - how many copies to keep and how often to backup
  • Preservation - What to consider for long-term preservation
  • Organization - how to organize and name your files
  • Documentation and Description - what to document about your project
  • Identifiers - why unique identifiers are important
  • Metadata - why metadata is important
  • Data clean-up - tools for cleaning up data