The Research Data Management Policy at the University of Galway states that
Reasons for sharing data
There may be reasons for not sharing your data e.g. privacy and confidentiality issues, commercial value of the data. Horizon 2020 has coined the phrase “As open as possible, as closed as necessary.”
If you are unable to publicly share your data, consider the possibility that you may wish to make your data available internally to future researchers to facilitate follow-on research, and/or to create a metadata record in your chosen archives or repository. A metadata record will describe your data and aid others in knowing about it. In order to ensure this can happen you will need to manage your data.
Ref: CONUL Research Group (2018). Where to submit data: CONUL Information Sheet.
Legal and Ethical considerations
Some data may not be suitable for sharing. There may be legal or ethical factors to consider e.g., consent, privacy, copyright or commercial considerations.
For further information read the DCCs (Digital Curation Centre) guide on How to appraise and select research data for curation
Data deposits should be accompanied by supporting documentation and metadata to help others make sense of your data.A data license to indicate how you expect the data to be used is also necessary. For further information Information read the DCCs (Digital Curation Centre) guide on How to License Research Data
Restricting access to your research data
There are many reason why access to research data may need to be restricted. Some examples are provided below
“We intend to make a patent application, and must avoid prior disclosure.”
“Don’t want to make locations of members of endangered species available to poachers.”
“The research data are confidential because of the arrangement my research group has made with the commercial partner sponsoring our research.”
“My data form part of a long-term study upon which my research group is entirely reliant for its on-going research publications and academic reputation. We only share this with trusted colleagues.”
Data repositories or archives
A data repository allows researchers to upload and publish their data, thereby making the data available for other researchers to re-use. Similarly, a data archive allows users to deposit and publish data but will generally offer greater levels of curation to community standards, have specific guidelines on what data can be deposited and is more likely to offer long-term preservation as a service. Sometimes the terms data repositories and data archives are used interchangeably. A data repository or archive will provide services such as:
When to select a data repository?
Choose early so that you can familiarise yourself with the repository’s requirements. Requirements may include:
Understanding such requirements will enable you to design your data collection materials for easier metadata and documentation creation.
Initial questions
How to select a data repository
Ask:
Other questions may pertain depending on your requirements. For more information see the UK’s Digital Curation Centre’s checklist
There are various options for sharing and publishing data. Preference should be given to discipline specific, community recognised repositories which are well subscribed and supported within the discipline. Discipline-specific repositories have the expertise and resources to deal with discipline specific data. There are hundreds of discipline specific data repositories worldwide with community specific standards. The Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3data.org) can be searched by discipline. If there is no suitable disciplinary-specific repository then use a general repository that handles a variety of data types. Charges may apply but can be included in funding applications.
If you cannot find a suitable discipline specific repository Zenodo is a good option. It is a trusted multi-disciplinary repository funded by the EU and run by CERN. It accepts data sets as well as publications, presentations, posters, multimedia, software, or educational resources. Datasets deposited will get a DOI (persistent and unique identifier). It can be used for long-term preservation and sharing of research results, but not for data management in ongoing projects.
The University of Galway has a Community on Zenodo intended for datasets by researchers affiliated with the University of Galway. While preference should be given to discipline specific repositories and/or repositories recommended by funders the University of Galway Community on Zenodo should be chosen if no suitable discipline specific repository is available.
The University of Galway Community on Zenodo is at https://zenodo.org/communities/universityofgalwaycommunity
Please direct queries to: Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian, Email: researchrepository@universityofgalway.ie
Registry of Research Data Repositories re3data.org can ve used to locate a suitable data repository. You can search it by specific research discipline and then filter by access categories, data usage licenses, whether the repository gives the data a persistent identifier etc. Repositories listed must be run by a legal entity, such as a sustainable institution (e.g. library, university), must clarify access conditions to the data and repository as well as the terms of use and have a focus on reserach data. It uses a series of symbols to indicate key services e.g.
FAIRsharing.org is a curated registry with a focus on the life sciences.
Multidisciplinary repositories
The following list is for information purposes only and is not exhaustive:
Data Hub provides free access to its core features letting you search for data, register published datasets, create and manage groups of datasets
Dataverse A personal dataverse is easy to set up, allows you to display your data on your personal website, can be branded uniquely as your research program, makes your data more discoverable to the research community, and satisfies data management plans
Dryad hosts a wide range of data types. For some journals there is no charge to deposit in Dryad.
Figshare is a repository where users can make all of their research outputs available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner
Github is a code hosting site where you can store and share code for free
Open Science Framework is a free open platform that supports research and enables collaboration
Zenodo is a trusted multi-disciplinary repository funded by the EU and run by CERN. The University of Galway has a Community on Zenodo intended for datasets by researchers affiliated with the University of Galway. While preference should be given to discipline specific repositories and/or repositories recommended by funders the University of Galway Community on Zenodo should be chosen if no suitable discipline specific repository is available. The University of Galway Community on Zenodo is at https://zenodo.org/communities/universityofgalwaycommunity
Some Irish repositories:
Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA)
Resources
How to find a trustworthy repository for your data? Guides for Researchers from OpenAIRE
PLOS recommended repositories
ICPSR is an international consortium of more than 750 academic institutions and research organizations that maintains a data archive of more than 250,000 files of research in the social and behavioral sciences
Generalist Repository Comparison Chart by Stall, Shelley et al. (2020). Generalist Repository Comparison Chart. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3946720
ANNEX 1 - Inventory of identified trusted repositories.xlsx produced as part of the following report: Jahn, Najko, Laakso, Mikael, Lazzeri, Emma, & McQuilton, Peter. (2023). Study on the readiness of research data and literature repositories to facilitate compliance with the Open Science Horizon Europe MGA requirements (Version 1.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.772801
Jonathan Dorey, Grant Hurley, & Beth Knazook. (2022). Appraisal Guidance for the Preservation of Research Data. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5942236, guide designed to assist curators of research data in making informed and sustainable value assessments for long-term preservation.
If you cannot find a suitable discipline specific repository Zenodo is a good option. It is a trusted multi-disciplinary repository funded by the EU and run by CERN. It accepts data sets as well as publications, presentations, posters, multimedia, software, or educational resources. Datasets deposited will get a DOI (persistent and unique identifier). It can be used for long-term preservation and sharing of research results, but not for data management in ongoing projects.
The University of Galway has a Community on Zenodo intended for datasets by researchers affiliated with the University of Galway. While preference should be given to discipline specific repositories and/or repositories recommended by funders the University of Galway Community on Zenodo should be chosen if no suitable discipline specific repository is available.
The University of Galway Community on Zenodo is at https://zenodo.org/communities/universityofgalwaycommunity
Use of Zenodo and the University of Galway Community on Zenodo, both the uploading and downloading of data, denotes agreement with Zenodo's terms at https://about.zenodo.org/terms/
The University of Galway Community on Zenodo is managed by the University of Galway Library. If you are affiliated with the University of Galway and have deposited datasets in Zenodo you can submit/link them to this community.
By submitting data to this community, the data submitters affirm that:
Disclaimer
The University of Galway is not responsible for the content of research data submitted to this community. Data submitters are solely responsible for the quality and content of the submitted data files.
Use of Zenodo and the University of Galway Community on Zenodo, both the uploading and downloading of data, denotes agreement with Zenodo's terms at https://about.zenodo.org/terms/
IMPORTANT
Submit your data to Zenodo
Zenodo is free to use and accepts all formats of data from all disciplines e.g. datasets, models, spreadsheets, text files, code etc., Total files size limit per record is 50GB. Files may be deposited under closed, open, or embargoed access. The submitter decides on the appropriate level of access, depending on ethical, intellectual property protection, security or other constraints. The submission process is straightforward.
Link your data to the University of Galway Community on Zenodo
Please direct queries to:
Digital Publishing and Data Management Librarian,
Email: researchrepository@universityofgalway.ie
When you make your data available you need to use a license so that potential users know what they are allowed to do with your data.
A license states what can be done with the data and how that data can be redistributed e.g. Creative Commons Licences
Ball, A. (2014). ‘How to License Research Data’. DCC How-to Guides. Edinburgh: Digital Curation Centre.
Learn more about rights relating to research data from the UK Data Service
Uk Data Services, Best practice in governance of data for research: Licensing and accessing Webinar and Slides and Q&A, 18 April 2018
This is a useful tool to find the right licence: https://chooser-beta.creativecommons.org/https://chooser-beta.creativecommons.org/
Code
GitHub is the main platform for hosting and reviewing code. It offers a number of advantages such as assigning DOIs (which facilitates discoverability and citeability) and allowing integration from Zenodo and FigShare repositories to enable the citing of your GitHub repository in academic literature.
Attribution and credit for research outputs also applies to research data. Data citation provides the information necessary to locate, attribute and access the research data, also enabling it to verified or reused.
Benefits of data citation
Citations should include a Persistent Identifier
ADVICE: Use the Library's DOI service to obtain a DOI for a dataset.
A dataset citation should include where applicable:
See also guidelines provided by the Data Curation Centre
Learn more about ...
Data citation principles
Software citation principles
Smith AM, Katz DS, Nieme KE, FORCE11 Software Citation Working Group.(2016) Software citation principles. PeerJ Computer Science 2:e86 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.8
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