What to keep | Research | Imperial College London

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</ul> </li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/applying-for-funding/publisher-memberships/" target="_self">Publisher agreements and discounts</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/">Preparing your thesis </a> <ul class="multilevel-linkul-1"> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/reproducing-published-works/">Reproducing published extracts, images, figures, etc</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/reproducing-your-own-published-work/">Reproducing your own published work</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/requesting-an-embargo/">Requesting an embargo</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/creating-your-pdfa/">Creating your PDF/A</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/selecting-a-creative-commons-licence/">Selecting a Creative Commons licence</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/publishing-material-from-your-thesis/">Publishing material from your thesis</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/advice-for-supervisors/">Advice for supervisors</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/theses/masters-dissertations/">Master's dissertations</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/faq/">Frequently asked questions</a></li> <li><a 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href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/faq/imperial-profiles/">Imperial Profiles</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/faq/applying-for-oa-fees-article-processing-charges/">Applying for OA fees (article processing charges)</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/faq/preparing-your-phd-thesis-for-submission-to-spiral/">Preparing your research degree thesis for submission to Spiral</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/glossary/">Glossary of open access terms</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/symplectic-spiral-relationship/">What is the relationship between Symplectic and Spiral</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/book-a-one-to-one-or-training-session/">Book a one to one or training session</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/our-team/">Our team</a></li> </ul> </li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/publishing-with-spiral/">Publishing with Spiral</a> <ul class="multilevel-linkul-0"> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/publishing-with-spiral/intro-to-spiral/">Introduction to Spiral</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/publishing-with-spiral/how-to-prepare-your-report/">How to prepare your report</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/publishing-with-spiral/get-a-doi/">Receiving a DOI for your report</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/publishing-with-spiral/discovering-impact/">Discovering impact</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/spiral/deposit-after-publication/">Depositing a published paper in Spiral</a></li> </ul> </li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/symplectic/">Symplectic</a> <ul class="multilevel-linkul-0"> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/open-access/spiral/">Add outputs to Symplectic and Spiral</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/symplectic/link-research-outputs-to-other-entities/">Link research outputs to other entities</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/symplectic/update-your-pwp/">Update your PWP</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/symplectic/add-publications-to-researchfish/">Add publications to Researchfish</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/symplectic/user-guides-and-faculty-contacts/">User guides and faculty contacts</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/symplectic/frequently-asked-questions/">Frequently asked questions</a></li> </ul> </li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/orcid/">ORCID</a> <ul class="multilevel-linkul-0"> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/orcid/symplectic-to-orcid-for-all-users/">Synchronising Symplectic to ORCID: all users</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/orcid/symplectic-to-orcid-for-affected-users/">Synchronising Symplectic to ORCID: affected users</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/orcid/symplectic-and-orcid-permissions/">Setting Symplectic and ORCID permissions</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/orcid/maximise-your-visibility-with-orcid/">Maximise your visibility with ORCID</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/orcid/faq/">ORCID frequently asked questions</a></li> </ul> </li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/bibliometrics/">Bibliometrics</a> <ul class="multilevel-linkul-0"> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/bibliometrics/basics-of-metrics/">Basics of metrics</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/bibliometrics/responsible-use-of-metrics/">Responsible use of metrics</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/bibliometrics/available-bibliometrics-tools/">Available bibliometrics tools</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/bibliometrics/initiatives-and-resources-on-responsible-metrics/">Initiatives and resources on responsible metrics</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/bibliometrics/narrative-cvs/">Narrative CVs</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/bibliometrics/book-a-one-to-one/">Book a one to one</a></li> </ul> </li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/training-and-events/">Training and events</a></li>  </ul> </nav> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <main id="page"> <div class="show-no-js"> <div class="container"> <p class="step-1">In this section</p> <nav class="nav-fallback"> <ul class="nav-fallback__parent"> <li> <a class="lwi" href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/"> Scholarly Communication </a> </li> </ul> </nav> </div> </div> <div class="container content-template" id="content"> <nav class="page-area-heading"> <a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/">Scholarly Communication</a> </nav> <div class="page-heading lg-8 sm-12"> <div class="breadcrumbs"> <ul> <li><a href="/">Imperial Home</a></li> <li><a href="/research-and-innovation/">Research</a></li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/">Support for staff</a></li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/">Scholarly Communication</a></li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/research-data-management/">Research data management</a></li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/research-data-management/archival-and-preservation/">Data preservation</a></li><li><a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/research-data-management/archival-and-preservation/what-to-keep/">What to keep</a></li> </ul> </div> <h1>What to keep</h1> </div> <div class="row row--space-between flow-opposite top" id=""> <aside class="col lg-3 md-4 sm-12"> </aside> <div class="col lg-8 sm-12" role="main" id="primary-content">  <div class="module flow-m"> <div class="row wysiwyg"> <h2>Deciding what data to keep</h2> <p>Not all research data needs to be kept. It may be impracticable or undesirable to retain all data beyond the end of the project. There may be additional storage costs associated with long-term preservation or contractual or licensing terms that prevent archiving. Deciding which data to keep will differ from project to project but considering these questions can help when making decisions on what data to keep:</p> <ul> <li>Does the data underpin published research findings?</li> <li>Is there a funder or Imperial policy requirement to retain the data?</li> <li>Are there any legal or contractual reasons to retain the data?</li> <li>Does the data have potential for re-use in future research?</li> <li>Is the data unique or difficult to replicate?</li> <li>Does the data have scientific or historical value?</li> <li>Do the benefits of preserving the data outweigh the costs?</li> </ul> <p>If your answer to one or more of these questions is yes, you will most likely want to keep the data beyond the end of your project.</p> <h2>How long should you keep data for?</h2> <p>Some funders have data management and sharing policies which specify retention periods for datasets generated from funded projects. Which data need to be retained and for how long varies from funder to funder. See our web page <a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/research-data-management/introduction-to-research-data-management/what-does-my-funder-require/">What does my funder require?</a> for brief summaries and links to individual funder data policies.</p> <p>If there is no funder requirement you should consult <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/admin-services/secretariat/policies-and-guidance/managingyourrecords/">Imperial’s retention schedule</a>. Primary research data should be kept for a minimum of 10 years or longer if required by a funder or sponsor and data relating to clinical or public health studies retained for a minimum of 20 years or more.</p> <p>Wherever possible we recommend depositing your data with a trusted data repository to ensure long-term preservation. See our web page <a href="/research-and-innovation/support-for-staff/scholarly-communication/research-data-management/archival-and-preservation/finding-a-research-data-repository--archive/">Finding a research data repository</a> for further information.</p> <h2>How to dispose of data?</h2> <p>Files that are not required for long-term preservation should be disposed of securely at the end of the project. Extra care should be taken when disposing of files that contain sensitive or confidential information. For help with disposing of confidential data contact the<a href="/admin-services/ict/contact-ict-service-desk/"> ICT Service Desk</a>.</p> <h3>Non-digital data</h3> <p>For help with archiving or disposing of non-digital research data contact the College Archives and Corporate Records Unit.</p> <h2>Additional resources:</h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.dcc.ac.uk/guidance/how-guides/five-steps-decide-what-data-keep" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DCC Five Steps to Decide What to Keep</a></li> <li><a href="https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/learning-hub/research-data-management/store-your-data/disposal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">UK Data Service Research data management-Store your data-Disposal</a></li> </ul> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div> </div> <section class="supplementary-content row"> <div class="supplementary-content__sizer col"></div> </section>  </div> </div> </div> </main> <footer class="footer" role="contentinfo"> <section class="footer__main"> <h2 class="sr-only">Useful 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