Research Data Management in Institutions of Higher Education in Uganda: A Neglected Business

Abstract

This research examines research data management (RDM) in six Ugandan universities, its awareness, existence, and management, as well as ownership questions among senior staff members. The paper hypothesises that research data management is a new concept in Uganda universities and explores views on potential locations suitable for setting up the system within university structures. The stratified purposive sampling and snowballing methods were used over Google Forms. The key findings are that at least 74.8% of the staff believe it is a new concept and that their universities do not have initiatives to establish it; while 52.6% of the staff believe the ownership of research data should rest with the authors. There are varying views on the roles of various departments and potential host locations for research data management. The research limitation was that much as practices are not properly established in departments within university structures in Uganda, more research could be done to find out how research data is managed by individuals, projects or departments. The practical implication is the need for the establishment of a model research data management centre from which universities, government parastatals as well as organisations can learn. The paper makes a strong case for Ugandan higher education institutions to establish a department for research data management.