Excursus: Finding and selecting repositories
Researchers looking for existing research data in the context of their work can find what they need in research data repositories and data portals. Data producers who want to make their research data available to the public or a limited group of users will also encounter the topic of repositories when publishing their research data. There are repositories that are specifically designed for storing either publications or research data, but there are also repositories that allow both types of objects to be stored.
In many cases, there are relevant repositories for specific subject areas that are well known to the respective specialist community. Researchers should therefore first find out whether such repositories exist for their subject area. In addition to subject-specific repositories, there are also generic repositories that are not assigned to a specific subject area, such as Zenodo or GRO.data. These may be limited to the research data of one or more research institutions or may be usable by all data producers, regardless of their research institution.
Joint repository for FDM-ndsHAW
As part of the FDM-ndsHAW project, the six participating universities have agreed to jointly operate a joint repository. The main purpose of this repository is to support researchers who cannot find a suitable subject-specific repository, giving them the opportunity to store their research data in an institutional context. For further information on the joint repository, please contact the relevant contact person at your university.
If no subject-specific repository is known, a suitable repository must first be found. Special directories of repositories, such as the Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3data), are useful for this purpose. These directories list both subject-specific and interdisciplinary repositories. When selecting a repository, the following prioritization is generally recommended. [1]
- Subject-specific repository
- Institutional repository
- Generic repository
In addition, various quality characteristics, such as the assignment of persistent identifiers, certification, or supported metadata profiles, should be taken into account when making a selection.
In addition to searching repositories, it is also advisable to search for existing research data via data portals or index services. These enable a cross-repository search for research data. A generic example of this is Data Cite. There are also various subject-specific services. Further information on searching for and finding research data and research data repositories can be found, for example, at forschungsdaten.info.
[1] Lilian Sophie Zappone: Onlineworkshop „FDMontag: Suchen und Finden von Repositorien“, 06.05.2024.
Further information
Guide to searching repositories
Zappone L (2024): Handreichung: Repositoriensuche. Link
Guide to choosing a repository
Zappone L (2024): Handreichung: Repositorienwahl. Link
Searching for and finding research data and research data repositories
Search for repositories
DFG digital portal for information and access to research infrastructures worldwide: RIsources
German Research Foundation (DFG): Portal for Research Infrastructures: RIsources. Link
Global directory of research data repositories: re3data
Directory of open access repositories for text publications worldwide: Open DOAR
Directory of institutional open access repositories and their contents: ROAR
ROAR: Registry of open Access Repositories
Examples of data portals and (subject-specific) data services
Data search, publication, and archiving for the natural sciences: PANGEA
PANGAEA: Data Publisher for Earth & Environmental Science
Data search, publication, and archiving for social sciences: GESIS
Interdisciplinary research data services: DataCite
Research data services for biodiversity research: GFBio
A merger of data centers and scientific collections and archives that offers various research data services.