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Research Data and Research Software Policy of the University of Potsdam

June 11th, 2025

The Senate of the University of Potsdam has decided on the basis of § 70 sec. 2 no. 6 of the Brandenburg Higher Education Act of 9 April 2024 (GVBl.I/24, [No. 12]), most recently amended by Art. 2 of the Act of 21 June 2024 (GVBl.I/24, [No. 30], p.32), in conjunction with Art. 14 sec. 1 No. 4 of the Constitution of the University of Potsdam of 17 December 2009 (AmBek. UP No. 4/2010 p. 60), as last amended by the Seventh Statute of the Amendment of the Basic Regulations of 14 December 2022 (AmBek. UP No. 8/2023 p. 318), adopted the following Research Data and Research Software Policy of the University of Potsdam on June 11, 2025:

Content

Preamble

Section I: Principles

Section II: Legal framework

Section III: Institutional responsibility

Section IV: Validity

Preamble

The University of Potsdam, Brandenburg’s largest university, is a research-intensive institution with distinctive interdisciplinary research profile in the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences. These are strengthened by partnerships with non-university research institutions and through international collaborations. Particularly within the context of the University of Potsdam’s Research Focuses, Priority Programs and Collaborative Research Centers, its scholars generate a wide variety of research data and research software that form the basis for scholarly insights.

In making research data and research software available, scholars ensure the transparency, reproducibility and verifiability of previous research and allow for the reusability of data and software to conduct new research, or for knowledge and technology transfer. The University of Potsdam is committed to an open scholarly culture, a commitment established in its Open Science Guidelines.[i]

Research data include

“measurement data, laboratory values, audiovisual information, texts, survey or observation data, methodological test procedures and questionnaires. Compilations, software and simulations can equally represent a central result of scientific research and are therefore also included under the term research data.”[ii]

Research software

“is software created during the research process or for a research purpose. It includes, for example, source code, scripts and executable files. It is used, among other things, for the collection, analysis, simulation, processing, presentation or use of observation and measurement data or digitized text, image, film, sound sources, objects, etc. as well as for the generation of scientific models, the control of scientific instrumentation or for process optimization.”[iii]

This policy applies to all researchers and research support staff at the University of Potsdam. It serves to implement the “Principles for the Handling of Research Data” by the Alliance of Science Organizations in Germany[iv] and the “Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities,”[v] signed by the University of Potsdam in 2015. Alongside this policy, the University of Potsdam is publishing recommendations for the handling of research data and research software to support the systematic management of research data and research software as standard part of good research practice.

Section I: Principles

(1) The University of Potsdam commits to the free access to research data and research software. Research data and software should be shared as openly as possible for reuse as open research data and open research software, provided no legitimate interests or legal requirements prevent publication (cf. Open Science Guidelines of the University of Potsdam). Research data should be prepared in accordance with the FAIR Principles for Scientific Data Management[vi]. Research software should be prepared in accordance with the FAIR Principles for Research Software.[vii]

(2) The University of Potsdam ensures the archiving of research data and research software. In accordance with the DFG’s Code of Conduct “Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice”[viii], and in keeping with the FAIR principles, research data and software that are the basis of a text publication, but cannot be published, are to be archived in suitable infrastructure for at least ten years. According to the Open Science Guidelines, open infrastructures belonging to the scholarly community are considered particularly well-suited for this purpose. The archiving of research data or software exclusively by researchers or immediate erasure should only be considered in case of legitimate interests or legal requirements, or if no suitable infrastructure exists.

(3) The University of Potsdam recognizes the preparation of research data for reuse and the development of reusable research software as scholarly output. The same applies to contributions to the discipline-specific advancement of good practice in the handling of research data and research software. Quality-assured data and software publications produced by those belonging to, and affiliated with, the university and recognized by their respective scholarly communities belong to the University of Potsdam’s scholarly output.

(4) All researchers are responsible for complying with good research practice, including when handling research data and research software. In doing so, the relevant discipline-specific guidelines of DFG review boards and scholarly associations on the handling of research data or software are to be taken into consideration. Special responsibility is borne by:

  1. Principal investigators with regard to a project’s documentation, openness and the reusability of research data and/or software, as well as for data privacy and compliance with ethical standards.
  2. Research group leaders with regard to cross-project aspects (e.g. common standards for the quality and storage of comparable data across multiple studies).

(5) Students and research staff completing degrees are entitled to appropriate information, training and certification and support from teaching staff and supervisors. As much as possible, the basics of the structured handling of research data and software should be taught as part of undergraduate degree programmes. Opportunities for further training and certification should be created for students and academic staff.

Section II: Legal framework

(1)Legally binding regulations on the handling of research data remain unaffected and take precedence over this policy.

(2) Examples of statutory and university regulations that give rise to rights and obligations in relation to research data and software are:

  1. the statute “Selbstkontrolle in der Wissenschaft – Regeln zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis an der Universität Potsdam (“Scholarly self-monitoring: rules for safeguarding good research practice at the University of Potsdam”[ix]),
  2. the Verfahrensordnung der Ethikkommission der Universität Potsdam (“Governing procedures of the University of Potsdam Ethics Committee”[x]),
  3. Fundamental rights, in particular the right to privacy [Persönlichkeitsrecht], including data protection [Datenschutz][xi],
  4. Copyright and related rights, as well as industrial property rights (patent law and related rights), including the regulations on employee inventions.

(3) Further binding regulations may result from agreements, e.g. in funding, cooperation and licence agreements. In particular, compliance with the requirements of funding bodies concerning the management, publication, and archiving of research data is required. Restrictions on the openness and reusability of research data and/or software that contradict this policy’s principles are to be avoided in contracts and other agreements.

Section III: Institutional responsibility

(1) The University of Potsdam commits to ensuring that the technical and organizational requirements for compliance with this policy are permanently available.

(2) The University of Potsdam creates the necessary conditions and provides a central, interdisciplinary support structure for the structured handling of research data and research software.

(3) The University of Potsdam supports cross-faculty discussions and development processes about open science and the digital transformation of research, as well as the teaching of data literacy competencies at the undergraduate level and during postgraduate training.

(4) The University of Potsdam supports declarations and initiatives at the state, federal, European and international level that promote free access to research data and software, the recognition of data and software publications as research outputs, good practice in research data and research software management as well as good overall conditions for data-based research.

(5) The University of Potsdam's activities around research data and research software give due consideration to gender and diversity.

Section IV:Validity

(1) This policy takes effect on the day following its publication in the Amtlichen Bekanntmachungen (Official notices) of the University of Potsdam.

(2) With the entry into force of this statute, the Research Data Policy of the University of Potsdam of 25 September 2019 (AmBek. UP No. 18/2019 S. 1361) shall cease to be in force.

(3) The policy will be reviewed and, if necessary, amended no later than four years after publication.

 

[i]University of Potsdam (2023). Open Science Guidelines of the University of Potsdam. https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-59490

[ii]Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2015). DFG Guidelines on the Handling of Research Data. https://www.dfg.de/resource/blob/172098/4ababf7a149da4247d018931587d76d6/guidelines-research-data-data.pdf

[iii] Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2024). Handling of Research Software in the DFG’s Funding Activities. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13919790

[iv]Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany (2021). Principles for the Handling of Research Data

https://doi.org/10.2312/ALLIANZOA.035

[v]Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003). https://openaccess.mpg.de/Berliner-Erklaerung

[vi]Wilkinson, M. D., et al. (2016). The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship. Scientific Data, 3(1): 160018. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18

[vii]Chue Hong, N. P., et al. (2022). FAIR Principles for Research Software (FAIR4RS Principles).

https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00068

[viii] Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (2025). Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice. Code of Conduct. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14281892

[ix]University of Potsdam. (2022). Neufassung der Satzung „Selbstkontrolle in der Wissenschaft – Regeln zur Sicherung guter wissenschaftlicher Praxis an der Universität Potsdam.”. Amtliche Bekanntmachungen Nr. 3 vom 18.3.2022 - Seite 26–34,

https://www.uni-potsdam.de/fileadmin/projects/senat/Kommissionen/11_WFK/ambek-2022-3-26-34.pdf

[x] University of Potsdam (2016). Verfahrensordnung der Ethikkommission der Universität Potsdam. https://www.uni-potsdam.de/am-up/2016/ambek-2016-15-1443-1446.pdf

[xi]In particular, compliance with provisions of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Brandenburg Data Protection Act/Brandenburgisches Datenschutzgesetzes (BbgDSG) is mandatory.

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