Retention

Laws and regulations on how long data must be kept; assessing longer-term value at the end of the retention period.

Minimum retention periods
Long-term and permanent retention
Planning for long-term and permanent retention

As a researcher, you should identify the likely retention period for your data as early as possible in the research and ensure that requirements for retention and disposal (including secure destruction) are met.

You must also ensure that actions and decisions taken during the project facilitate long-term or permanent retention for data with enduring value to the research community or of wider public interest.

Minimum retention periods

Your research data needs to be kept for as long as required to:

• meet any statutory or regulatory obligations (records legislation, funding agency guidelines, contractual arrangements with research partners)


• meet the current needs of researchers


• meet the future needs of researchers where these can reasonably be anticipated


• satisfy expectations of the University in documenting research activity.

The minimum period for keeping research data is usually 5 years from the completion of the project or the time that the results of the research are published (whichever is later).

In some cases, a much longer minimum retention period (up to 25 years) is required, depending on the type of research data that is being collected.

You should refer to the Draft retention and disposal arrangements for research data and records (pdf 47kB) to determine the minimum retention period for your data.

Long-term and permanent retention

Often research data should be retained in the long term, as it may have lasting research value for the research community and broader audiences. In these cases, the decision may be made to keep data for a longer period or on a permanent basis.

Longer-term and permanent retention of research outputs (e.g. publications) is recommended where the outcomes of the research:

• are or may become of high public interest or contention


• substantially shift the paradigm for the field of inquiry


• have resulted in the identification, registration and use of intellectual property (e.g. supports a patent application).

Any research data that supports research of this kind, and that would be needed to validate results, should also be considered for longer-term or permanent retention.

You should refer to the Draft retention and disposal arrangements for research data and records (pdf 47kB) to determine whether your data may be a candidate for permanent retention.

Planning for long-term and permanent retention

If you think that your data may be a candidate for long-term or permanent retention, you should be aware that decisions made at an early stage of the research project can limit your later ability to retain data in a usable form. For example:

• Human ethics requirements and the nature of the consents you seek from participants will determine whether data can be re-used for future projects and in what ways. (See Guidelines - Ethics and consent)


• Technology-based decisions relating to storage media, software, and digital file formats might impact upon the length of time that data can be easily retrieved and used. (See Guidelines Storage and backup and Durable formats)


• If good documentation about the data has not been kept throughout the life of the data, it may be difficult to find the data and make sense of it at a later date, particularly if those originally responsible for the data are no longer at Monash University. (See Guideline Organising data)

Identifying issues like these around long-term and permanent retention is part of data planning.

Research data that is going to be retained permanently should be deposited in a repository or archive.