• The life cycle of research data represents the steps that research data goes through at different stages of a research activity/ research project
• It is a description of the research data before, during and after the end of the experiment
• Each processing of research data does not necessarily include all the listed steps, but at the end, there is always a step marked as data re-use, which sets the conditions for further processing
• The opening of research data consists in observing certain principles of good administration, legal norms, recommendations and criteria, which will make it possible to ensure different degrees of future repeated use (so-called re-use) for specific data
• Ideally, in the end, anyone will be able to use the data (the so-called "open"), and one of the FAIR attributes will be fulfilled

There is no single definition, but it most often consists of six basic steps. :

1. Data generation - data collection and creation
2. Data processing (e.g. description, selection, cleaning)
3. Data analysis
4. Data Retention
5. Data sharing (making it available)
6. Data re-use