Any data designated to be preserved for the long-term, whether publicly or otherwise, should be deposited into a trusted digital repository. Researchers are encouraged to use repositories standard to their communities. An overview of repositories can be found at Re3data: www.re3data.org. Where there is no suitable external repository, TU Graz will provide a local infrastructure for this purpose.

Coordination of the entire research data lifecycle, aiming to ensure that the right processes are put in place and that appropriate decisions are made to make research datasets Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR).

Scholarly work which has undergone quality assurance via external experts and is published as a scientific article, conference paper, book or book chapter, etc.

According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), personal data means “any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.”

Research is defined as any creative and systematically performed work that is carried out with the goal of advancing knowledge, including gaining insights about people, technology and scientific laws, and applying this knowledge in new ways.

Researchers are individuals who perform research activities at TU Graz. This includes members of the University as defined in Section 94 of the Universities Act 2002 (UG) (i.e., PhD students, scientific and non-scientific staff). Persons not directly affiliated with an institution, but who, for purposes of research, make use of or are physically present at the institution, are also included in the term. Visiting researchers or collaborators may also be expected to comply with the policy.

Research data, as the term is used in this policy, is the evidence that underpins answers to research questions, and which is necessary to validate research findings. Data can come in various forms and types, characteristic to specific disciplines of research. For example, data can be quantitative or qualitative information collected by researchers in the course of their work by experimentation, observation, modelling, interview or other methods, or information derived from existing evidence. Research data also includes elements that make the data reusable or re-workable, e.g. documentation of the research process (e.g., in lab- or notebooks), underlying software/code, or algorithms and runtime environments. Research data can be stored at different granularity and can be classified as:

• Raw or primary data: measurements, information recorded as notes, images, video footage, computer files etc. (the raw data may be impossible to store always)
• Processed data: analyses, descriptions and conclusions in the form of reports or papers, and
• Published data: information (i.e., publication and plotted data) distributed to others than those involved in data acquisition and administration.