This article offers resources and guidance on publishing research data as a research output. The guidance in this article is in line with European Commission and Horizon 2020 funding guidelines.. For any questions or to request a consultation with the Library’s Open & Digital Research Team, contact trish.finnan@universityofgalway.ie for DMP support or kathleen.harrigan@universityofgalway.ie for RDM support.
Data published as a research output refers to any data created or used to conduct research and is part of a published body of work. Examples include aggregated data (such as averaged survey scores derived from individual surveys), clinical trial data, experimental data, etc.
Researchers should publish their data in a data repository.
A data repository allows researchers to upload and publish their data, thereby making the data available for other researchers to re-use. It allows users to deposit and publish data and 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.
Ireland's National Action Plan for Open Research aims to achieve "a research system fully aligned with open research principles and practices" by 2030. Open publishing of research data is a key pillar of this vision. Fore more information on Open Research Practices, see our guide here.
Choosing which data repository to publish your data to depends on a few factors, such as potential funding requirements and discipline specific practices. You should always aim to publish in an open repository; in fact, some funders require it! It is best to follow the approach of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.”
Check to see if a data repository has been specified by your funder e.g.
Trusted community-recognised and discipline-specific repositories are recommended for research funded by Research Ireland and Horizon e.g.
OpenAIRE recommend repositories listed in re3data or FAIRsharing
cOAlition S (associated with SFI, now Research Ireland) funded research requires repositories be registered in OpenDOAR
There is likely a disciplinary-specific, community-recognised data repository you can submit your data to, thereby helping to preserve your data according to recognised standards in your discipline e.g.
If none of the above apply to you, Zenodo is the University’s recommended research data repository. You can find more information at The University of Galway Community on Zenodo.
Whichever data repository you publish your research data in, be sure that it is one that provides a persistent identifier (PID), such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), so that your dataset can be uniquely identified on the web.
Datasets should be openly licensed and published with a CC0 Public Domain Dedication or a CC-BY 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution Only license. For more details on Open Licensing, see https://creativecommons.org/.
Linking your published research data to the published work it is associated with improves your research’s reproducibility, provides information beyond your published work that may be beneficial to fellow researchers, and renders your research more robust enabling it to secure more citations. There are different options for how you can link your published research data to your published work:
Add your dataset PID as a metadata record in your published work
Check to see if the repository where your research is published offers metadata records for research data PIDs
Include a Data Availability Statement in your published work
A data availability statement describes the datasets associated with your published work and includes a link to the relevant repository and the dataset’s persistent identifier. It can be added to the end of your published work, before the reference list. Note that a Data Availability Statement may be required for some open access publishers. See here for examples of data availability statements.
Can I publish my research data in the University of Galway Research Repository or in Current Research Information System (CRIS)?
The University of Galway Research Repository and CRIS do not support research data storage options. The University is currently working on research data storage options to address the growing need. See Choosing a Data Repository for guidance on where to publish your research datasets.
What if the research data I want to publish is not associated with a published work?
Your research data does not need to be associated with a published work. You can publish your research data as a standalone research output in a data repository (see Choosing a Data Repository).
The Library proactively supports and enhances the learning, teaching, and research activities of the University. The Library acts as a catalyst for your success as University of Galway’s hub for scholarly information discovery, sharing, and publication.
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