Handling research data in doctoral dissertations
All students enrolled for the first time in the first year of doctoral study programs in the 2021/22 academic year or later must also submit a Data Management Plan (DMP) when submitting their doctoral dissertation proposal.
When presenting the results of their doctoral research (dissertation draft), they must submit an updated version of the DMP.
When submitting the final version of the dissertation, the final version of DMP must be published as an appendix to the doctoral dissertation. For more information, check the University of Ljubljana page: Research data management, specifically Guidelines for creating DMP.
Researchers’ Guidance for Data Management Plans is an example of a data management plan template based on the Science Europe core requirements for DMPs.
A great help can be The CESSDA Expert Tour Guide on Data Management (long version) or a short version with DMP questions that help you prepare your DMP.
Research data should be deposited in a trusted repository, preferably in a disciplinary data repository or in the Repository of the University of Ljubljana (RUL). The doctoral dissertation must include a reference or persistent link indicating where the data are stored and how they can be accessed.
To find suitable repositories, researchers can use the international registry re3data.org.
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Students must also publish their research data and indicate its location in their doctoral dissertation, as stipulated in Article 50 of the UL Doctoral Study Regulations, which states:
"Research data created and collected for the purposes of a doctoral dissertation must be published or otherwise made available in a manner that ensures its transparency, accessibility, interoperability, and the possibility of re-evaluation and reuse. Doctoral students shall submit their research data to a data repository, data center, or research data archive, thereby complying with the principles of verifiability, transparency, and open science. Preferably, research data shall be submitted to a national or international data center dedicated to specific types of data or to the UL Repository.
The doctoral dissertation shall indicate where the data are available and how they can be accessed. Exceptions to data sharing are justified in cases involving personal and sensitive data or for reasons of intellectual property protection or non-disclosure of endangered areas, groups, or species. In the event of justified exceptions to data sharing, the doctoral student shall, in agreement with the data center, ensure an appropriate method of data protection and restrictions on access to data. In this case, at least freely accessible metadata must be prepared for the data center catalog, showing where and under what conditions the research data is accessible."
The data steward at the Faculty of Biotechnology is Dr. Tina Zorman. If you have any additional questions, doctoral students can write to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call her at 01 320 3052.