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University, Faculty, and Institute RDM Policies

Last modified by RDM Test on 2026/03/31 12:09

Local protocols shaping research data management practices at Leiden University emerge from international and national principles, policies and regulations. The Netherlands code of conduct for research integrity of 2018 sets standards for responsible research practices that encompass research data management but also sets a framework for Institutions duties of care in this domain. Its content is thread through all of the documents presented in the following sections.  

Likewise, ethical considerations at Leiden University have been shaped by Nethics (National Ethics Council for Social and Behavioural Sciences; Nationaal Ethiek Overleg Sociale en Gedragswetenschappen), which formulates a Dutch ethical code for research involving human participants.

Researchers looking for practical information should first look into their institute’s policies / protocols. Guidelines in relation to specific methods used by several institutes can also be found in the appendices of the faculty data protocol.  

Leiden University Research Data Management Regulations 

The Research Data Management Regulations (2021) of Leiden University outline a core set of expectations, applicable to all faculties, regarding how employees and affiliates of the university should handle their research data over the course of a given project. These high-level regulations form the basis for more localized Research Data Management (RDM) policies that each of the university's seven faculties has been mandated to develop. In line with this mandate, the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW) finalized its Research Data Protocol, ratified by the FSW Faculty Board in Summer 2024. Importantly, to support domain-specific RDM practices that account for the diversity of disciplines, methods, and epistemological traditions which underpin the many data practices of FSW researchers, each of the faculty's five institutes has its own elaboration of the faculty protocol.

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences Research Data Protocol (FSW)

While remaining aligned with the university regulation, responsible data management will look different depending on the adopted methodology. The purpose of the faculty elaboration is to allow for interpretations that respect these different traditions. This document was co-created by the Faculty research data management cluster, research directors of the constitutive institutes of the Faculty as well as researchers with a specific involvement in research data management.

This document is publicly available on Zenodo, and can be found here. 

For questions regarding the Faculty protocol please contact datamanagement@fsw.leidenuniv.nl. 

Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS)

The Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) has a set of institute-specific Research Data Management Guidelines . In February 2026 the CWTS Scholarly Communication Policy came into effect. It supersedes the previous CWTS Open Science Policy from 2020.  

The primary goal of this Policy is to increasingly publish our work through open, community-governed channels that contribute to a scholarly communication system in which researchers, universities, and other academic or public actors – rather than commercial or revenue-driven entities – govern how knowledge is shared, promoting collective stewardship of the knowledge production process. The Policy applies to all outputs on which individuals present CWTS as their affiliation.

The most recent version of the CWTS Scholarly Communication Policy can be found here

Institute of Political Science (PoWe)

The Institute of Political Science finalized its first set of Research Data Management and Open Science Policy and Guidelines in Summer 2024. The policy comes into effect 1 September 2024, and can be found here.

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS)

Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology has a data management policy that includes an annotated Leiden University DMP template and an appendix about informed consent.

Psychology (PSY) and Education and Child Studies (PED)

Education and Child Studies and Psychology share common practical resources for data management in relation to writing Data Management Plans and to creating Publication Packages:  

Each Institute has also developed their own Open Science policy that relates for some part to data management, but more broadly aims at fostering Open Science by summarizing research practices that are either encouraged and/or required during the different research stages within the institutes.