This article outlines the implementation of the Research Data Management Core (RDMC) digital preservation strategic plan. The development and ongoing maintenance of a comprehensive standards-based digital preservation strategic plan demonstrates our commitment to the preservation of, long term retention of, management of, and access to our data collections.
In this article
Introduction
The UNC Research Data Management Core (RDMC) Digital Preservation Policy outlines the implementation of the digital preservation strategic plan adopted by the RDMC. The development and ongoing maintenance of a comprehensive standards-based digital preservation strategic plan demonstrates RDMC’s commitment to the preservation of, long term retention of, management of, and access to its digital data collections. RDMC accepts responsibility for fulfilling the requirements of its digital preservation strategic plan as described and formalized by this document.
Archival Standards Compliance
RDMC systems, policies, and procedures have been developed in alignment with prevailing standards for trustworthy digital repositories as outlined in ISO 14721 Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) and ISO 16363 Audit and Certification of Trustworthy Digital Repositories. RDMC digital preservation systems and workflows comply with these standards are described in the RDMC Workflow and Infrastructure.
Administrative Responsibility
The Research Data Management Core (RDMC) was founded in 2023 by the Office of Vice Chancellor of Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) as an institutional response to the growing research data management and sharing mandates. RDMC provides UNC researchers with the necessary tools, knowledge, and support to manage and share their research data in compliance with policies and requirements of funding agencies and research stakeholders effectively and efficiently.
RDMC was designed to be adaptable and responsive to the data management and sharing needs of the UNC research community, while proactively promoting data management and sharing standards and best practices. The mission of UNC Dataverse is to provide a trusted and standards-based platform and service for federation, preservation, access, and use of research data assets produced by the UNC community. Many of the RDMC founding members were key contributors to the development and stewardship of the UNC Dataverse previously managed by UNC Odum Institute for Research in Social Science. With stewardship now under the aegis of RDMC and the RDMC mission, they are focused on evolving UNC Dataverse to meet the data archiving and sharing needs of the UNC research community. Drawing on the rich history of Odum Institute Data Archive, RDMC has already demonstrated leadership in the development of a more unified campus research data infrastructure, integrating services and technology. RDMC continues to be an active contributing member of the professional data archiving community that includes the Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS), the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), Qualitative Data Repository (QDR), International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST), Roper Center, Research Data Alliance (RDA), and the Curation for Reproducibility Consortium. RDMC staff have served in leadership positions for international organizations such as the International Federation of Data Organizations (IFDO), CoreTrustSeal (CTS), and Global Dataverse Community Consortium (GDCC).
Consistent with this role, the Research Data Management Core mission is:
to sustain a robust ecosystem of research data management and sharing support that maximizes the impact of Carolina’s scientific enterprise.
Purpose
The Research Data Management Core Digital Preservation Policy framework is based on the seven attributes of a trusted digital repository as outlined by the Digital Preservation Policy Framework: Development Guide 2.1 and contains references to other policy and procedure documents. The audience for this document includes RDMC staff, University of North Carolina administrators, and Research Data Management Core collaborators, funders, users, and digital content contributors.
Mandate
The Research Data Management Core mission complements the UNC Mission, which supports the broader commitment to teaching, research, and public service. The Research Data Management Core upholds the following mandates:
- Commitment to teaching and research. The Research Data Management Core supports and enhances teaching and research by providing enduring access to digital data assets.
- Open science practices and advocacy. Whenever possible, the Research Data Management Core makes digital data assets freely and publicly accessible to the scholarly community. It also offers access to reliable, open source archival infrastructure to encourage researchers to provide open access to their data to the benefit of the scientific community.
- Responsive Data Services. The Research Data Management Core provides contractual services to individuals and organizations to add value to the data to ensure long-term preservation, access, and reuse.
- Archival Infrastructure Innovations. The Research Data Management Core pursues grant funding and contracts to develop and implement archival infrastructure and workflow innovations to address current and anticipate forthcoming continual changes in technology and research practices.
Objectives
To achieve its mission and fulfill its mandate, the Research Data Management Core digital preservation strategic plan defines the following objectives:
- Maintain a comprehensive digital preservation program comprised of standards-based archival infrastructure and processes that identifies, acquires, enhances, preserves, and makes digital data assets accessible to the designated user community
- Adapt digital preservation strategies to accommodate emerging technologies and techniques in responsive and cost-effective ways
- Review the preservation worthiness of research data assets to ensure usefulness and of interest to the designated community in periodic retention review starting at 10 years from repository deposit
- Implement and promote data preservation and management best practices to ensure digital data assets meet quality standards for interpretability and reuse over time
- Cultivate relationships with UNC researchers and other members of the designated user community to remain responsive to expressed or demonstrated needs and preferences
- Foster collaborative partnerships with members of the professional archives community to establish standards, share practices, and make the best use of available resources to provide comprehensive services
- Complete regular self- and external audits to ensure compliance with OAIS and other applicable standards for trustworthy digital repositories
Organizational Viability
The Research Data Management Core preserves, manages, and distributes digital data assets and associated materials acquired in accordance with our Collection Development Policy. The digital preservation processes and procedures employed by the Research Data Management Core demonstrate an explicit institutional commitment to the long-term preservation of and access to its digital data holdings now and into the future.
Scope
The Research Data Management Core maintains responsibility for long-term preservation of and access to digital data assets in its collections to the parent institution, depositors, other digital repositories, partners, and all other applicable members of the designated user community.
Operating Principles
Research Data Management Core operations adhere to an established set of principles upon which its digital preservation program has been developed and implemented.
- Compliance with prevailing digital preservation and data standards and practices (e.g., OAIS, ISO 16363, and FAIR Principles)
- Alignment with standards and guidance established by the Data-PASS
- Development and maintenance of reliable systems to ensure digital data access to digital content
- Adoption of technical and metadata standards for interoperability that allow for the exchange of data and metadata among archive partners
- Enforcement of data and metadata quality standards to sustain and enhance the value of data, and facilitate discovery, access, and reuse of the data
Roles and Responsibilities
The Research Data Management Core is one of several units within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) that provides research support. See the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research Organizational Chart for an illustration of the organizational structure.
Management and implementation of the digital preservation program is accomplished primarily by RDMC staff to include Assistant Director of Research Data Stewardship, Research Data Preservation Archivist, Health Science Data Steward, Arts and Sciences Data Steward, Data Curation Specialists, Data Management Policy Compliance Officer, Assistant Director of Research Data Architecture, Infrastructure Engineer, Full-Stack Developer, Applications Developer, Graduate Research Assistants, and other administrative and research support staff.
Staffing
The RDMC Data Stewardship team is led by the Assistant Director for Research Data Stewardship, who provides administrative oversight and direction to curation operations and enforces established RDMC policies. The Assistant Director for Research Data Stewardship holds a library and information science graduate degree from an ALA-accredited graduate program. She also has a background in data archiving, social science research, and demonstrated supervisory and leadership experience. The Research Data Preservation Archivist is responsible for the day-to-day management and operations of UNC Dataverse in accordance with relevant policies, standards, and best practices. The Research Data Preservation Archivist holds a library and information science graduate degree from an accredited graduate program and has received training in research methodology, data management, and archiving. She has experience supervising staff and student workers. Arts and Science Data Steward and Health Data Steward are responsible for data management and sharing planning, data curation consultations, and trainings and workshops for our designated community members. The data stewards hold either a library and information science graduate degree or relevant domain graduate degree with data management and curation experience. Data Management Policy Compliance Officer reviews data submissions for compliance with funder data sharing requirements and legal mandates. This officer brings expertise in sponsor policies and federal regulations related to research and research data and in conducting audits to ensure regulatory compliance. Data Curation Specialists execute standards-based data curation and preservation workflows. These specialists are early career curators with a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science or a relevant graduate degree. Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) support RDMC operations by performing data curation tasks. GRA positions are filled by graduate students enrolled in the UNC School of Information and Library Science who have an expressed interest in data management and/or digital archives and seek opportunities to gain practical experience in the data curation field.
The RDMC Data Stewardship team works alongside the RDMC Research Data Architecture unit, which provides information technology support to develop and maintain storage, computing, and network systems. Architecture operations are overseen by the Assistant Director of Research Data Architecture, who supervises a staff that includes an Infrastructure Engineer providing software programming and network maintenance, Full-Stack Developer who develops front-end and back-end web interfaces, and Applications Developer who develops archival software enhancements and solutions.
The Office of Vice Chancellor houses other units that provide additional support to RDMC including administrative support for accounting and human resources functions and a communications team to support community outreach and engagement.
Selection and Acquisition
The RDMC identifies and solicits contributions of research data generated by the UNC research community. Data are selected and acquired in accordance with appraisal criteria and collecting priorities as set forth in our Collection Development Policy.
Access and Use
The RDMC defines its Designated Community as consisting primarily of researchers and members of the UNC research community engaged in research that represents multiple fields and domains. These members include research faculty, students, and other individuals that participate in such academic research. Because UNC Dataverse provides free and open access to its collections, data are also accessed by the public, journalists, policymakers, citizen scientists, and others interested in the collections.
The UNC Dataverse Terms of Use Policy provides details on restrictions to use of digital data collections and services based on several factors such as user age, copyright and intellectual property laws, data sensitivity, and appropriateness of content.
Retention Review
The RDMC staff conducts periodic retention reviews to determine whether the data asset should be retained, transferred, or deaccessioned. Retention review shall happen 10 years from the deposit date and periodically thereafter throughout the life of the data. Retention review results may include a set of recommended preservation actions to ensure the long-term usability and accessibility of the data. Data will be reviewed in accordance with re-appraisal criteria and collecting priorities as set forth in the Collection Development Policy. RDMC anticipates that the Retention Reviews will result in the continued preservation of most data.
Challenges and Risks
The Research Data Management Core acknowledges the challenges and risks to long-term digital preservation. Despite these challenges and risks, the Research Data Management Core remains steadfast in its commitment to provide enduring access to digital data assets to support the research community. The Research Data Management Core’s digital preservation program works to address these challenges and risks as described below:
- Changes in technology. The risk of technological obsolescence and other breakdowns can arise as technologies evolve and introduce new capabilities and content types. Therefore, the RDMC staff continually monitors and responds to changes in technology.
- Shifts in normative research practice. As the adoption of novel research techniques becomes widespread, the Research Data Management Core must become aware of and understand the new tools, practices, and data types these novel techniques yield. The Research Data Management Core adapts its preservation program to accommodate these and other shifts in scholarly practice.
- Growth of interdisciplinary research. The increase in interdisciplinary research activities has challenged discrete definitions of specific scholarly domains. This interdisciplinary view requires that the Research Data Management Core become familiar with tools, practices, and data types of multiple disciplines.
- Expansion of repository roles and responsibilities. The role of the repository is as dynamic as the landscape in which it serves. Changes in technology, research practices, domain definitions, and stakeholder expectations require Research Data Management Core staff to receive appropriate training and professional development opportunities to be able to expand roles and responsibilities to effectively develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive digital preservation program.
Financial Sustainability
The University of North Carolina and the Research Data Management Core demonstrate their commitment to the continued operations of the UNC Dataverse by providing financial and administrative support and underwriting inter-institutional collaborations and partnerships.
Institutional Commitment
The RDMC receives funding support from primary and secondary sources. The majority of support is financed through the RDMC basic service fee applied to research grants and contracts awarded to UNC and UNC facilities and administration funds. Additional funding sources include contracts that support Research Data Management Core services for specific UNC researchers and organizations that require add-on data curation services. The Research Data Management Core also pursues contracts and grant funds from federal agencies and private foundations to support the ongoing development and maintenance of archival infrastructure and workflows. Contracts and grants are administered through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. Details of funding for Research Data Management Core operations can be found in the Research Data Management Core Annual Report and annual budget, available upon request to rdmcarchive@unc.edu.
Cooperation and Collaboration
The demands of sustaining a comprehensive digital preservation program threaten to exceed the amount of resources available to any one individual institution. Therefore, the Research Data Management Core has placed importance on collaborative partnerships with other archives as well as the broader digital data archiving community. As a member of Data-PASS, the Research Data Management Core has entered into an agreement to cooperate with Data-PASS partners to achieve common objectives to archive research data, provide access to these data in a shared catalog, participate in a preservation network, and engage in digital preservation best practices.
Continuity of Service
The Research Data Management Core staff have measures in place to address risks in changing institutional and funding environments and to ensure continued preservation and access to our digital data collections in the event that RDMC is unable to meet its objectives. The Data-PASS partnership is integral to the Research Data Management Core succession plan, which dictates the transfer of Research Data Management Core collections to Data-PASS partners should the Research Data Management Core become unable to meet these objectives. The Data-PASS network stipulates that members agree to acquire and preserve materials from a Data-PASS member repository that ceases to operate. The UNC Dataverse Terms of Use explicitly allows for the transfer of materials to Data-PASS members to ensure long-term preservation and access. More information is available on the Data-PASS website.
Technological and Procedural Suitability
The Research Data Management Core employs several digital preservation strategies and techniques to achieve its objectives. These strategies and techniques are informed by guidelines and procedures published by Data-PASS and developed to align with established archival standards and best practices.
The primary content of the Research Data Management Core collections consists of quantitative data presented in tabular file formats, textual documents that contain information required to identify, verify, interpret, and use the data, and standardized descriptive, structural, and administrative metadata. Digital preservation strategies require that the Research Data Management Core apply all reasonable efforts to ensure the integrity, authenticity, and completeness of the digital content it acquires and distributes.
The Research Data Management Core has adopted file format normalization and migration as its main digital preservation strategy. For tabular data files, a software-agnostic tab-delimited file derivative is generated and preserved alongside the original file. Other non-preferred file formats are normalized and/or converted to optimal preservation formats as recommended by the Library of Congress Recommended Formats Statement for bit-level preservation. An annual review of repository systems and content is conducted to determine the necessity of hardware and software migration. Criteria for migration are based on requirements of the Designated Community. These criteria include media longevity and viability, susceptibility to physical damage, and user preferences for data file access and use.
System Security
Levels of data curation, which are described further in the Collection Development Policy, addresses the preservation needs of digital files that may include file normalization, identification of issues of data sensitivity and confidentiality, and resolution of data quality deficiencies. These actions are key to ensuring that the digital data assets are publicly discoverable, accessible, and usable into the long-term future. Implementation of data curation is described in detail in the Data Curation Workflow and Infrastructure.
The Research Data Management Core and its systems are bound by the University of North Carolina Information Technology Services (ITS) Information Security Policy and all other applicable ITS policies and guidelines for the storage, management, handling, and transmission of data.
The archival infrastructure of the Research Data Management Core is built using reliable and robust systems committed to the long-term integrity and accessibility of digital materials. Several measures have been put in place to monitor for and prevent unauthorized use and access of systems and digital content. Systems include network, storage, and power redundancy to reduce the risk of system failure and loss of content. A diversified storage solution for file backup stores copies of all content in both local locations and in off-site storage in geographically distributed locations. The RDMC’s Data Security Guidelines provides additional information on adherence measures, policy protections, and technological protections in place to comply with applicable laws and regulations governing data security.
The membership of the Research Data Management Core in the Data-PASS partnership is central to the long-term protection of Research Data Management Core digital data assets. Should the Research Data Management Core be affected by disaster, the content of its collections is to be transferred to a Data-PASS partner institution for long-term stewardship and preservation in accordance with the Data-PASS Memorandum of Understanding.
Procedural Accountability
The Archive is dedicated to promoting trust with its designated user community, collaborative partners, the professional archives community, and the larger scholarly community through self-assessment, audit, and transparency of policies and procedures.
Audit and Transparency
The Research Data Management Core is committed to self-assessment and audit as defined by prevailing standards for trustworthy digital repositories. To demonstrate this commitment, the UNC Dataverse earned the CoreTrustSeal Certifcation (2020-2023) with our reapplication in progress. It also works continually to expand and improve its systems and processes in order to achieve compliance with ISO 16363 metrics. As part of these efforts, the Research Data Management Core routinely revisits and adjusts its policies and procedures to remain responsive to changes and advances in accepted digital preservation standards and best practices.
The Research Data Management Core makes its policies, procedures, and results of assessments publicly available online via its website or upon request to rdmcarchive@unc.edu.
Framework Administration
The Research Data Management Core Digital Preservation Policy is subject to three-year review or upon the emergence of new standards and best practices, whichever may come first. The current policy was approved and issued on February 1, 2025.
References
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. (2011). Audit and certification of trustworthy digital repositories (Magenta Book No. 652.0-M-1). Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics Space Agency. Retrieved from http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/652x0m1.pdf
Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. (2012). Reference model for an open archival information system (OAIS) (Magenta Book No. 650.0-M-2). Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics Space Agency. Retrieved from http://public.ccsds.org/publications/archive/650x0m2.pdf
Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS). (n.d.). About Data-PASS. Retrieved from http://www.data-pass.org/
GO FAIR. (n.d.). FAIR Principles. Retrieved from https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (2016, November). ICPSR digital preservation policy framework. Retrieved from http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/preservation/policies/dpp-framework.html
JISC. (2009, January 27). Establishing a digital preservation policy. Retrieved from http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/crossmedia/advice/establishing-a-digital-preservation-policy/
McGovern, N. (2015, November 13). Digital preservation policy framework: Development guideline version 2.1. Retrieved from http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1443189702298
Roper Center. (2015, January 23). Digital preservation policy. Retrieved from https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/digital-preservation-policy/