Research data should be primarily published in the data archive or repository of your own field of science or research topic. By publishing your data in a discipline-specific data archive, it is more likely to be discovered by researchers in your field.
In general or multidisciplinary data archives, the discoverability of research data for researchers in your field may be more challenging.
The right data repository meets the following criteria:
You can search for different repositories from the following services:
Special features of different repositories are also presented on the Harvard Library website.
Sometimes there's no need to open the entire research dataset; just the metadata is sufficient. However, the metadata should be comprehensive enough to convey an understanding of the research dataset.
In many archives, it's possible to open only the metadata, even if the entire research dataset has been deposited in the archive. However, this may not be possible in all cases.
It's advisable to start producing metadata right at the beginning of the research. Writing metadata later can be time-consuming. Check out tips for writing metadata: DATA DESCRIPTION AND METADATA
Turku University strongly supports FAIR principles, which suggest that research data should be as open as possible and as closed as necessary. Opening the entire dataset is not always feasible or sensible, but metadata for research datasets can be made open. Turku University does not have its own database for opening research data; instead, data opening is done through national or international platforms, such as repositories or data archives.
Should all data be openly accessible?
The answer, in simplicity, is NO.
When making assessments, go through the Digital Curation Centerin (DCC) check list to determine which data is worth preserving.
A persistent identifier (PID) refers to a unique identifier used in the online environment to identify entities such as publications, individuals, or research datasets.
Turku University recommends that each researcher obtain their own ORCID identifier. This identifier is useful in situations where a researcher changes their name or has multiple variations of their name, or when there are multiple researchers with the same name. More information about the ORCID identifier can be found in the UTUCRIS guide.
In scientific publications, the persistent identifier is usually issued by the publishing platform, often the publisher of the journal or monograph.
For published research data, a persistent identifier such as a URN (Uniform Resource Name) or DOI (Digital Object Identifier) can be used. URN identifiers are used by domestic data archives such as Etsin, FSD, and Kielipankki, while DOI identifiers are widely used in commercial publishing platforms and systems.
For the continued use of research datasets, research data should adhere to the so-called FAIR principles, meaning that the data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
Authors of scientific articles may be asked to include a data availability statement or data access statement (DAS) in the article. Its purpose is to indicate where the research data associated with the article is available and under what conditions. The DAS may include a link to the dataset if applicable.
Publishers have their own guidelines for forming and placing DAS in the article, see for example: Taylor & Francis, Springer ja Elsevier.
Generally about Data accesability: PLOS ONE -Data Availability, Nature -DAS
Data publications are peer-reviewed documents that include information such as data collection and analysis methods. They are published in peer-reviewed journals. Data publications increase the visibility of research and provide recognition to authors similar to scientific articles.
Zenodo is a general-purpose data repository suitable for various types of data. It is produced by CERN and funded by the EU.
Features:
You can explore the Turku University community in Zenodo here. UTU recommends using the community. When you add your dataset to the Zenodo UTU community, library experts will review and approve your dataset and its associated metadata.
Dryad is an interdisciplinary research data repository, with a particular focus on natural and medical science research data.
Features:
Figshare is an interdisciplinary repository where you can upload your data for free.
Features:
Harvard Dataverse is an open-source data repository developed at Harvard University Library. The source code of Harvard Dataverse serves as the basis for many other data repositories.
Special features:
Open Science Framework (OSF) is a general-purpose repository that provides researchers with assistance in data management throughout all stages of research.
Special features of the Open Science Framework:
Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) archives both qualitative and quantitative research data.
Special features of the Data Archive:
