Skip to Main Content
PolyU Library

Research Data Management

Sharing good practices for Research Data Management

What is a Persistent Identifier

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).

Need Help? Contact Us!

By Phone 2766-6863
WhatsApp 2766-6863 (service hours)
Online Enquiry Online Form
Information Consultancy Service 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 shared via these means can enjoy higher visibility and attract 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 reuse the data. Some institutions hold institutional data repositories for members to deposit data. General data repositories which accept data on different research areas are available. There are also subject-specific data repositories for the sharing of data on certain research fields.

 

Why Data Repository


Depositing your data in a data repository helps other researchers to find, understand, and reuse your data effectively:

Assign a persistent identifier

Data repositories usually assign a persistent identifier (a permanent link, e.g. DOI) to the deposited data. This improves the discoverability of your data.

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 collecting metadata.

Help users cite your data

Most data repositories help potential users cite the data by providing sample of data citation formats. This encourages proper credit to your work.

Show usage statistics of your data

You can monitor the usage information such as the numbers of views and downloads from the repository easily. 

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.

Preserve for long-term access

The data deposited in a data repository will be back up regularly which helps preserve the data for long-term access.

 

How to Select a Data Repository


Here are some recommendations for considering which data repository to deposit your research data:

  • Create a personal data profile in the PolyU Research Data Repository and publish your data. You can feature all data in your various projects in one go in the future and your data can be searched via search engines.
  • Deposit in the repositories specified by the funder for funded research or those recommended by the journal.
  • Choose the repositories that are generally used by the researchers in your discipline. This can enhance the discoverability of your shared data within the research field.
  • Select trustworthy repositories that are reliable for long-term preservation, e.g., those indexed in re3data, FAIRsharing.org, OpenDOAR, or OAD's Data repositories.
  • Other factors to consider:
    • Will the repository assign a persistent identifier to the data?
    • Will the repository provide guidance on how the data should be cited?
    • Any size limit for the data to be deposit?
    • Any cost for the data to be deposit? What is the cost structure? Are there ongoing costs after deposit?
    • Will the repository provide rich metadata for the deposited data for enhancing the discovery?
    • What kind of licenses can be selected for the data to be deposited?
    • Will the repository allows embargo or other access control?
    • Will the data be found via search engines?
  • Consult with your Faculty Librarian if unsure.

 

Where can I find Data Repositories


You can desposit your data in the institutional data repository - PolyU Research Data Repository.  Further details about the Repository is available in this guide.

PolyU Research Data Repository

Besides, you can make use of the following tools to discover disciplinary-specific or multidisciplinary data repositories:

 
 

Registry of Research Data Repositories

A global registry of research data repositories that covers research data repositories from different academic disciplines.

FAIRsharing.org

A searchable portal with both in-house and crowd-sourced descriptions of standards, data repositories, and data policies.

OpenDOAR 

Allows searching and browsing thousands of registered repositories based on a range of features, such as location, software, or type of material held.

Data Repositories of Open Access Directory

A list of data repositories grouped by 15 disciplines with over 20 multidisciplinary repositories.

 

Example of Well-known Multidisciplinary Repositories


  

Harvard Dataverse
A repository to share, preserve, cite, explore, and analyze research data.

Dryad
A curated platform for a wide diversity of data types.

Figshare
​A repository where you can make all of your research output available in a citable, shareable, and discoverable manner.

 

Open Science Framework
​A free, open platform for you to discover projects, data, materials, and collaborators.

 

Zenodo
An open-access repository initiated by OpenAIRE, an EU organization focused on open science, and is hosted by CERN.

 

A comparison of multi-disciplinary data repositories can also be found on the Generalist Repository Comparison Chart.

Next: Data Journal >>

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 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:

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.

 

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.

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

 

<< Previous: Data Repository