Preserving and disposing of data

Preserving research data is an important part of ensuring long-term access to data. Data that is valuable for future use should be preserved through archiving, while material that no longer has any practical or scientific purpose may be disposed.

It is important to identify what specific rules and internal guidelines that apply to archiving and disposal at an early stage.

Consider preservation requirements

Different rules apply depending on whether the research principal is public or private.

Research data created by Swedish public universities is normally considered an official document. The Freedom of the Press Act (1949:105) defines what constitutes an official document, and the Archives Act (1990:782) regulates how such document should be handled.

Official documents at universities must, as a rule, be preserved, which means that they must be available for the foreseeable future. In connection with archiving, the material is evaluated to determine what may be discarded and what should be preserved. Research data may only be disposed of if there is a disposal decision based on legal regulations. The disposal period for research data is ten years at most higher education institutions, which means that data may be disposed of no earlier than ten years after the research results have been published and finally reported.

However, there are exceptions, for example for EU-funded projects and clinical trials on medicinal products. Some documents may be of great scientific value and be unique or otherwise difficult to recreate and therefore need to be preserved.

Other preservation requirements may apply to research data held by actors not covered by the Archives Act.

Research data containing personal data may only be processed for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purpose of the processing. Personal data that is no longer needed for ongoing research projects and does not need to be archived must be deleted.

It is important to find out early in the project which regulations, guidelines and procedures apply to archiving and deletion at the relevant research principal, and how these should be applied to the project's research data. This affects how research data should be structured and handled throughout the project.

Support in the work

• Higher education institutions and other research organisations often have guidelines and support material for the preservation, archiving and deletion of research data, one example being the institution's information management plan. In addition, there are often staff who can provide practical support, such as data stewards, archive staff, data protection officers and lawyers.
• The Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF) has produced a recommendation on the application of regulations for the disposal and preservation of research information.
• The Swedish National Data Service (SND) offers support for data management throughout the research process, which also includes the accessibility and reuse of research data.
• The National Archives of Sweden offers materials to support the application of laws and regulations on archiving.