What is the difference between archiving and publishing your data?
Archiving and publishing your data are critical in the life cycle of your research data. Even though they are closely related, they mean something different.
- Archiving is about storing and preserving data for the long term. It ensures the data remains intact, organised and accessible to authorised users over time.
- Publishing your data goes a step further. It is about making your data public to allow access to others either on an open basis or through restricted access. Published datasets are usually archived at the same time to ensure they remain accessible in the future. They are made discoverable and citable by assigning a permanent identifier such as a DOI.
What does Ulster's Research Data Management Policy require of you?
Ulster's Research Data Management Policy outlines a series of requirements for data which needs to be preserved:
- Researchers should assess which research data to retain at the end of a project and preserve in the long term.
- Research data must be retained for a period of at least 10 years from the date of any publication which is underpinned by the data or from public release. Where specific regulations with regard to data retention apply, e.g. from funders, these regulations should prevail, particularly where the required retention period is longer than the University requires.
- Appropriate safeguards must be in place to protect any personal data retained as necessary to achieve the research objectives contained within it.
- Researchers should have a clear plan for stewardship of research data during the retention period, for example if they leave the University, and for secure disposal.
- All retained research data of potential current or future interest, or that which substantiates published research findings, should be assessed for open access feasibility.
Help! How do I assess which research data should be archived?
When deciding which of the data produced in your project should be stored for the long term, consider the following criteria. If you answer 'Yes' to any of these questions, you should archive the data.
Data that directly underpin research findings which have been or will be published, and that must be retained in order that these findings can be independently substantiated.
Most funders expect you to provide at least the information that someone would need to be able to validate your published research as a minimum.
For detailed requirements, check your funder's policy.
Try to find out if other copies of the data exist and are accessible and useable.
If other copies exist, make sure the most comprehensive or up-to-date version is archived.
Some data by their nature cannot be re-measured or re-created. These include e.g. earth observations or people-based data. These datasets may often warrant indefinite storage and preservation.
Data that have enduring value independent of any published findings.
This may be value to yourself, in view of possible future research or the exploitation of any IPR, to other researchers, who might usefully interrogate them to generate further insights, or to other stakeholders such as industrial collaborators for whom the data may hold commercial interest.
Data which is retained but remains unpublished
Data which must be preserved but cannot be shared via a trusted data repository should be retained on suitable University provided systems i.e. Faculty/School storage systems, Network drives or SharePoint.
Why should I publish (or open) my research data?
Sharing your research data is good for your research
More citations of your published research articles
When you share the dataset that underpins your article, it’s not just the article that might be reused or cited; data sharing is also associated with an increase in citations to your research article of up to 25%.
Greater discoverability and enhanced visibility
Sharing data in a repository makes it visible, and easily found by researchers other than those reading the journal you’ve published in. Data repositories are increasingly searchable on Google and indexed in resources like Google Dataset Search. The metadata you add to your data’s repository record helps others to understand how it was generated and what it consists of.
Get credit for your work and gain recognition
Not content with just increased citations of your article? More and more journals allow authors to cite datasets in reference lists, so if someone reuses your data, you get an additional citation for it.
New opportunities for collaboration
When your data can be easily found, other researchers can reuse it; or they may wish to work with you collaboratively to build on the data you’ve already shared.
Allow for reproducibility and verification of results
The integrity of your research is supported by publishing your research datasets. It allows others to reproduce or replicate your results, increasing transparency, which can enhance your reputation as a researcher.
Funder requirements on Data Sharing
Most research funders (research councils, charities, foundations) have introduced policies on research data management. The general expectation is that publicly funded research data are a public good, and should be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible. On top of that, funders have their individual data policies which provide beneficiaries with instructions on how to treat research data.
Your funders' data policy statement should be reviewed before commencing your research project. In addition, Jisc Open policy finder is a searchable database with up-to-date information concerning funders' policies and their requirements on open access, publication and data archiving.
Are you already opening your research data?
We need to know!
Openness is a key indicator of research culture. If the institution does not know when and where Ulster researchers are opening research data, then we cannot effectively report the good work of our researchers.
Send pure-support@ulster.ac.uk a DOI for any dataset you have published in an external repository, and we will create a metadata record in PURE for you!
- Creating a metadata record in PURE for all your published research data enhances your PURE profile.
- You can relate a dataset metadata record to other content in PURE to build a joined-up picture of your research.
- Recording your metadata in PURE will make your data more discoverable via Ulster’s PURE Portal.
Ulster owns the data its researchers generate. The institution needs a record of where published data is.
Publishers and Data Sharing Policies
A growing number of journals now have data sharing policies which stipulate that data supporting published research findings should be deposited in a data centre or repository.
Publishers with data sharing polices include:
- ACS Research Data Policy
- Elsevier Research Data Policy
- Oxford University Press Data Availability Policies
- PLOS ONE Data Availability Policy
- SAGE Data Sharing Policies
- Springer Research Data Policies
- Taylor & Francis Data Sharing Policies
- Wiley Data Sharing Policies
This list is not exhaustive. If your publisher is not listed here, please check with them whether they have a data sharing policy.
Write a good Data Access Statement
The Data Access Statement (DAS) is one of the most important sections for the future credence of a manuscript. It is where interested readers go to locate the data upon which your manuscript’s claims lie, whether to verify those claims or to utilise the data for further research. The DAS is also the section most likely to suffer neglect or hastiness.
You can find a guidance for strenghtening your Data Access Statement on the RDM Support webpage.
We recommend including a data accessibility statement either in a section provided in the article template from your journal or as a sentence within the acknowledgements section. Please note that some journals might have specific guidelines regarding the formatting and wording of data access statements and where they should be included. Authors should check these guidelines to ensure that their datasets are cited correctly.
- Data is openly available:
"The data supporting the findings in this paper are openly available from [add repository name] at [insert DOI]." - Data has been submitted to a discipline-specific archive (without a DOI):
"All reads are publicly available and have been submitted to the European Nucleotide Archive with the ENA accession number PRJEB28455" - More than one digital output exists:
"Gene expression data are publicly available under GenBank accession number [ACC NUMBER] at [URL]. Computational code for data processing is available at the Ulster University Research Portal at [DOI]." - Secondary data was used or re-analysed:
"This study is based on the re-analysis of existing data, which is openly available and cited in the manuscript. Additional documentation on data processing and analysis are available at the Ulster University Research Portal at [DOI]." - Sensitive data:
"Data cannot be shared publicly because of ethical restrictions on sharing sensitive data. Ulster University’s Research Portal contains metadata on the dataset and instructions on how to request access to this dataset. This information can be accessed at [insert DOI]." - Commercial/ Intellectual Property constraints:
- Temporary embargo:
"The research data underpinning this publication will be available from the Ulster University Research Portal at [DOI] following a [X] months embargo to allow for commercialisation of the results." - Subject to non-disclosure agreements or approval:
"The research data underpinning this publication can only be made available subject to [a non-disclosure agreement/ approval by a data access committee]. Information about the data and conditions for access are available at the Ulster University Research Portal [DOI]."
- Temporary embargo:
- No new data has been produced (e.g. theoretical work, review articles):
"No new data were created during the study."
Don't forget to include a reference for your data in your manuscript and cite it within your Data Access Statement!
For example:
Data Access Statement:
The data supporting the findings in this paper are openly available from Ulster University's Research Portal at https://doi.org/10.21251/5dc06676-a5e9-4312-81f0-b3e1b0e00fe3 [39].
References:
[39] Watterson, Steven; Shukla, Priyank; McClean, Paula; (2021). Multimorbidity in the UK Biobank and its change over time. Ulster University. https://doi.org/10.21251/5dc06676-a5e9-4312-81f0-b3e1b0e00fe3.
