Choosing a Data Repository

  • Does your publisher recommend a repository?
  • Does your domain have an established repository?
  • Other
  • Certificates / ensure long term preservation
  • Licenses / access rights management
  • Provides DOIs / persistent identifiers
  • Metadata standards
  • Costs
  • Criteria for selection of trustworthy repo’s
Icons representing attributes of data repositories in Re3data.org, taken from plos.org

Practical Guide to the International Alignment of Research Data Management” mentions the following selection criteria:

  • Provision of Persistent and Unique Identifiers (PIDs)
    • Allow data discovery and identification
    • Enable searching, citing, and retrieval of data
    • Provide support for data versioning
  • Metadata
    • Enable finding of data
    • Enable referencing to related relevant information, such as other data and publications
    • Provide information that is publicly available and maintained, even for non published, protected, retracted, or deleted data
    • Use metadata standards that are broadly accepted (by the scientific community)
    • Ensure that metadata are machine retrievable
  • Data access and usage licences
    • Enable access to data under well specified conditions
    • Ensure data authenticity and integrity
    • Enable retrieval of data
    • Provide information about licensing and permissions (ideally in machine-readable form)
    • Ensure confidentiality and respect rights of data subjects and creators
  • Preservation
    • Ensure persistence of metadata and data
    • Be transparent about mission, scope, preservation policies, and plans (including governance , financial sustainability, retention period, and continuity plan)