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How long should I keep my data?
By ucylmfe, on 21 September 2015
Two official documents are here to help UCL researchers and students understand their responsibilities regarding the preservation (or “archiving”) of the data that they produce. Check the definition of research data if you are not sure what is meant by it.
- The UCL Research Data Policy gives general recommendation about length of time for data storage that researchers must observe. It states that research data should be “retained for a minimum of ten years after publication or public release” (p.3).
- The UCL Retention Schedule prescribes how long each type of records or data should be held. Section 2 (p.4) applies to Research Data in particular. This Schedule deals with ALL types of data and records, whether electronic or not. For instance, your data may include clinical trials, emails, artefacts, video files, lab books or photographs. You will find the answer in this Schedule.
Your funders may have their own policy regarding the preservation of data that were collected as part of a project that they funded. Check our list of links to funders’ policies. Your funders’ policies generally take precedence over UCL’s policies.
For support and advice about storage & long-term preservation please see our dedicated how-to guide.
4 Responses to “How long should I keep my data?”
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t.johnson wrote on 12 June 2019:
Hi Mohamed, The N drive is a safe bet whilst you are at UCL.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/isd/services/file-storage-sharing/filestoreucl/n-drive-storage.
Please drop us an email if you have any more questions.
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Holly Smith wrote on 4 May 2021:
Students don’t have access to the N:Drive after they graduate. Final year dissertations for BA/MA are often the only time students collect and manage data. If they want to preserve the data after their graduation, even for less than 10 years, where should they store it?
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Many journals now ask for unprocessed western blot images. How long should the lab keep them? – International Science Editing wrote on 2 March 2022:
[…] university. For example, University College London (UCL) specifies that data should be retained for 10 years from the date of submission, whereas the National Institutes of Health (NIH) specifies 3 years. If […]
I have a question please :
I wonder about the duration of keeping the data on UCL N drive since the small-scale research project is part of my course work , and is not intended for publication or public release. Does the 10 year policy apply or I can just delete the data once I am done with the research project ?