Preserve or Discard
Preserving or discarding research data is part of the University's archiving responsibility. It describes how the assessment is carried out and what applies when the research is concluded.
Preserve or Discard
When your research is completed, you need to decide what should be preserved and what should be discarded. It is part of the University's archive responsibility and a prerequisite for the correct management of research data in the long term.
The main rule of the archive legislation is that public records must be preserved, i.e. saved forever. Discarding may only take place if there is support in the constitution.
Discarding means that public records are destroyed or that information is removed in a way that causes the content of the records to be changed or lost. For example, it may involve deleting personal data from research data. No discarding may take place until it has been examined whether the material should be preserved or whether it may be discarded.
Information management plan
To determine how different records in research should be handled, use Mid Sweden University's information management plan.
There are instructions for handling the types of records that normally arise in research, such as:
- Primary Material
- documents to and from the Ethical Review Authority
- Agreements
- Planning documents
- Publications
In addition to this, your research can also include records such as information classification or impact assessment according to GDPR. Search for each record in the information management plan to see how it should be handled.
The information management plan home page provides guidance and instructions on how to use the plan.
Assessment of whether research data should be preserved or discarded
When your research is completed, research data must be assesed to determine whether they should be preserved or discarded. The assessment is carried out in accordance with established criteria.
You are responsible for producing documentation by conducting a Preservation and Discarding review for research data. Use the template Bevarande- och gallringsutredning forskningsdata.
The review is normally carried out when the last publication linked to research data has been completed. It is then submitted to the archive function, which makes the formal assessment of whether research data should be preserved or discarded.
After the assesment has been completed, the research data must either be preserved forever or discarded 13 years after the end of the research. The research is normally considered completed when the last publication has been completed.
No discarding may take place until the archive function's assessment has been completed and the stipulated retention period has expired.
Once the assessment has been confirmed, you move on to how the research data is to be submitted to the archive. This is described on the page Archive and deliver research data.
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