Data sharing: repository selection tool
Use this tool to help you assess and ultimately select a repository for data sharing.
Data repository types
- Funder-supported, such as NIH’s list
- Discipline-specific, such as the social science repository ICPSR
- Generalist repositories, such as Figshare
- Large compute-heavy repositories, such as CodeOcean or GEMS Informatics
- Institutional repositories, such as the Data Repository for the UMN (DRUM)
Repository characteristics to consider
Repository selection priorities
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Check your notice of grant award (NOGA) and with your specific funding institute, center, or office (ICO) to determine whether either encourages the deposit of data into a specific data repository (e.g., if you are complying with NIH’s Data Management & Sharing Policy, the specific institute that released the RFA may require a particular repository).
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Explore funder-supported repositories to see whether a repository listed under your ICO, subject area, or model system is a good fit for your data. You can quickly locate funder-supported repositories with a Google search.
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Share in a general data repository, discipline-specific repository, or DRUM.
UMN data repository memberships
Inter-University Consortium for Social and Political Research (ICPSR) is a repository for social science research. It offers full curation, member-only, and restricted access to data. Learn more about depositing in ICPSR.
Dryad is a repository for the sciences, but also takes general data. It offers workflows for peer review of data and open-access data sharing.
Repository checklist tool
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Does your grant or funding agency require a specific repository?
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Is there a repository that specifically supports your discipline?
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What are the repository’s policies?
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What is the level of access, restricted or open-access?
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Do services include persistent identifiers and pathways for discovery?
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What is the longevity of the data in the repository?
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What support do they offer in the curation process?
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Are there fees for sharing data and/or curation?
Repository policies to read & review carefully
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Deposit agreement or license
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End user agreement
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Human participant data policies
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Preservation policy
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Deaccessioning policy
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Existence of a certification