A persistent identifier (PID) is a permanent link that always points to a webpage, a document, a dataset, or other digital objects even the location of the object changed.
Example of PID includes, but not limited to Digital Object Identifier (DOI), Handle, Archival Resource Key (ARK), and Persistent Uniform Resource Locator (PURL).
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2766-6863 |
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Contact your Faculty Librarians on in-depth research questions |
Where can I share my research data
Traditionally, researchers share their data via personal websites or emails. There are now more effective means like sharing via data repositories and peer-reviewed data journals. Data shares via these means can enjoy higher visibility which attracts higher usages and citations.
What is a Data Repository
A data repository is a storage space that allows researchers to deposit research data and let the potential users find, access, and potentially reuse the data. Some data repositories are subject-specific but there are also data repositories open to scientific data from all disciplines.
Why Data Repository
Depositing your data in a data repository helps other researchers to find, understand, and reuse your data effectively:
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Assign a persistent identifier Data repositories usually assign a persistent identifier (a permanent link, e.g. DOI) to the deposited data which improves the discoverability of your data. |
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Assist with metadata provision Metadata is the information that describes your data in order to help others discover relevant datasets. Most data repositories provide templates for providing metadata easily. |
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Help users cite your data Most data repositories help potential users cite the data by giving examples of data citations. This in turn encourages proper credit to your work. |
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Show usage statistics of your data You can monitor the usage information like number of views and downloads from the repository easily. |
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Provide with clear reuse license You can select and manage reuse licenses of the data deposited in a data repository, thus assist other researchers to reuse your data. |
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Preserve for long-term access The data deposited in a data repository will be backed-up regularly which helps to preserve data for long-term access. |
How to Select a Data Repository
Here are some recommendations to consider when deciding which data repository to deposit your research data:
Where can I find Data Repositories
You can make use of the following tools to discover disciplinary-specific or multidisciplinary data repositories:
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Registry of Research Data Repositories A global registry of research data repositories that covers research data repositories from different academic disciplines. |
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A searchable portal with both in-house and crowd-sourced descriptions of standards, data repositories, and data policies. |
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Allows searching and browsing thousands of registered repositories based on a range of features, such as location, software, or type of material held. |
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Data Repositories of Open Access Directory A list of data repositories grouped by 15 disciplines with over 20 multidisciplinary repositories. |
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Example of Well-known Multidisciplinary Repositories
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Harvard Dataverse |
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Dryad |
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Figshare |
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Open Science Framework |
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Zenodo |
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A detailed comparison of multi-disciplinary data repositories can also be found on the Generalist Repository Comparison Chart.
What is a Data Journal
Data journals are scholarly journals publishing data papers that focus on describing the dataset itself. Unlike traditional articles, there are no interpretations, analysis, or conclusions drawn from the data. The purpose is to make the data understandable and reusable, thus improving the transparency of scientific methods. Publishing in a peer-reviewed data journal helps to gain authority for your research data too.
A typical data paper contains sections of abstract, introduction, methods, data description, reuse opportunities, and access path or method of the dataset. You may refer to this paper which describes the dataset related to COVID-19 as an example.
Most data journals require you to deposit your research data into a data repository instead of archiving the data in the publishers' webspace.
Why Data Journal
Publishing data papers bring the following benefits:
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Gain formal credit and citation Papers published in a data journal receive citations in the same manner as other academic articles. Your contribution in preparing the data can be formally recognized by the scientific community. |
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Maximize opportunity of reuse Data papers allow you to provide a more detailed description and context of the shared data. This helps other researchers better understand your data before reusing it. |
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Enjoy the element of peer-review Publishing in a peer-reviewed data journal establishes the validity and credibility of the shared data. |
Where Can I Publish a Data Paper
You can publish your data paper in either a "pure" data journal or journal with a distinct section for data papers. You may find some of the data journals in the list below.
| Data Journal | Publisher |
| BMC Research Notes | Springer Nature |
| The CODATA Data Science Journal | Ubiquity Press |
| Data in Brief | Elsevier |
| F1000Research | Taylor & Francis Group |
| Genomics Data | Elsevier |
| Geoscience Data Journal | Wiley |
| GigaScience | Oxford University Press |
| International Journal of Robotics Research | Sage |
| Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data | ACS Publications |
| Journal of Open Archeology Data | Ubiquity Press |
| Journal of Open Psychology Data | Ubiquity Press |
| Journal of Open Health Data | Ubiquity Press |
| Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences | Brill |
| Scientific Data | Springer Nature |
You may find more data journals from the directory prepared by the Finnish Committee for Research Data.