Research Data Management

Archiving & publishing data

Other than publishing articles presenting your research, an important aspect of research data management (RDM) involves making available the data, code, and materials used to conduct that research.  Research data repositories are subtypes of a sustainable information infrastructure which provides long-term storage and access to research data that is the basis for a scholarly publication [Registry of Research Data Repositories  ].  In other words, a centralized place to store data, making them available for use, ensuring accessibility beyond the life spam of a research project.

Choose a repository aiming at ensuring that your data are FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable), citable and comply with funder requirements.  It is advisable to prefer a public data repository that includes persistent identifiers to make data easily findable and various licensing options to ensure clarity.

Other factors you may need to consider while choosing a repository is the type of data you are planning to publish, as there are discipline specific repositories for higher visibility rate.  Depending on funders' requirements, you should also verify that you indeed have the right to publish your data in a repository and if yes, under which conditions and requirements.  Last, make sure it is a sustainable repository and your data will remain accessible in the long run.

To ensure your submission will be successful, you need to prepare your data according to the repository's mandates.  These may include using metadata of a specific scheme following required ontologies and controlled vocabularies, converting the data into a needed format, assigning an appropriate license.

• The official portal for European data - An official website of the European Union
• Repositories can be found easily via the Registry of Research Data Repositories   or using the Repository Finder , a pilot project of the Enabling FAIR Data Project  
• OpenDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories) is a curated and authorative list of academic open access repositories.
• Use the EMBL-EBI’s data submission wizard   tp find easily a suitable repository based on your data type.
• The University of Virginia Library has created a collection of subject specific repositories of various disciplines.
• Scientific Data Journal requests authors to submit datasets to an appropriate public data repository and that is why they include a compilation of generalist and subject specific repositories.  
• Dryad  is an open-access data repository, where you can now publish and share your research data for free with the institutional membership.
• Figshare is a repository where users can make  all of their research outputs available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner.
• The Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) is an international repository intended to facilitate ecological and environmental research.
• The American Society of Microbiology Journals introduces several repositories and has also created a submission request form that you may consult for inclusion in the list.
• Simmons College hosts the Open Access Directory’s list of Data Repositories .
• Open ICPSR   is a place to share social and behavioral science research data.
• ELIXIR has compiled a list of resources   that it recommends for the deposition of experimental data.

Research data journals

High standards of rigour in the scientific materials accepted for publication is a mandate from many publishers.  Additionally to scientific articles, research data of various types (i.e. code) enhance the research transparency and provide better reproducibility.  In this context, data journals are gradually gaining popularity in the academic publishing landscape.  Their focus is on research data as datasets rather than the usual research articles and they provide details essential to researchers, such as the context of the data collection, the choice of software environment and data processing decisions (i.e. file formats).

• The University of Pittsburgh has created a list with brief descriptions and links to sources that can be useful in locating data for research in a range of disciplines
• The Western Michigan University Library has created a Libguide to support the Data Science major, where you can find many data journals  . 
• PLOS journals   require authors to make all data necessary to replicate their study’s findings publicly available without restriction at the time of publication.

Research funders' requirements and Open Access (OA) mandates

In the recent years, data sharing and publishing plans have become a requirement for many research funders. Researchers are strongly encouraged not only to provide a thorough research data plan (RDP), but also to make their research data accessible soon after they complete their research project.

• Funder requirements - Horizon 2020
• List from most UK and European research funders with links to their RDM policies and an overview of their expectations
• NSF Data Management Plan Requirements
• The Open Research Funders Group (ORFG) is a partnership of funding organizations committed to the open sharing of research outputs and other forms of scholarship.
• Gates Open Research requires that the source data underlying the results are made available as soon as an article is published.
• Sherpa Juliet  is a searchable database and single focal point of up-to-date information concerning funders' policies and their requirements on open access, publication and data archiving.
• Sherpa Romeo is an online resource that aggregates and analyses publisher open access policies from around the world and provides summaries of publisher copyright and open access archiving policies on a journal-by-journal basis.
• Sherpa Fact  checks if compliance with funder open access policies can be achieved with a particular journal, combining and interpreting data from Sherpa Romeo, Sherpa Juliet and other sources.

"The greatest benefit of open access is that it enables the results of scholarly research to be disseminated more rapidly and widely." [OA benefits ].   To learn more about Open Access and how it can benefit and expand your visibility as a researcher, visit the related Open Access Libguide .