Sharing, curation and metadata as essential components of the data management plan

This paper stresses the critical importance that data management plans actually be data management and sharing plans, that encourage data-sharing at the early stages of research; that indicate that data must be made as open as possible (and as closed as necessary); and that specify a minimum level of curation and collection of essential metadata. The author stresses that fact that it is no longer sufficient to post material openly and hope that others will be able to make use of it. The use of metadata and careful data curation of the data are essential to facilitate the discovery and successful re-use of data.