Research Data Management: File Organization

When constructing a file name, consider using one or more of the following:

• Project or experiment name or acronym
• Location/spatial coordinates
• Researcher name/initials
• Date or date range of experiment
• Type of data
• Conditions
• Version number of file

Version control is the process of managing changes to files.

Manual version control can be as simple as adding a version number or a date (using YYYYMMDD format) to the end of the file name.

Examples: ASIST_abstract_v3.docx or ASIST_abstract_20180522.docx.

You can also use version control software or tools such as Github.

For more depth, see:

Version Control Brief, a short guide which goes over both manual and tool-based options.

Version Control & Authenticity, which focuses on manual options, produced by the UK Data Archive.

• Develop a documented and standardized format with your co-researchers.
• Use 25 of fewer characters if possible.
• Avoid using special characters, such as @, #, &.
  • See Michigan Tech's Character's to Avoid for a more depth list.
• Do not use spaces; instead use underscores or camel case.
  • Examples: NYC_climate_data.csv or NYCclimateData.csv
• Do not use periods, except before the file extension.
  • Example: 201805_survey_results.tsv, rather than 201805.survey.results.tsv
• When including the date, follow the ISO 8601 format: YYYYMMDD

File Renaming Tools

• Bulk Rename Utility (for Windows)
• Renamer (for MacOS)
• PSRenamer (for MacOS, Windows, Unix, Linux - the file to run is psrenamer.jar)
  • Github page
• WildRename (for Windows)

Guidelines

• File Naming in the Digital Age (constructed for oral history projects, but widely applicable)

Worksheets

• Naming and organizing your files and folders by MIT Libraries