Research Guides: Data Management: Sharing & Storage

Using the Open Science Framework (OSF)

JMU is an institutional partner with OSF, a collaborative platform where you can store, work with, and share your data. Visit the OSF guide for more details.

Why Share Your Data?

TEDx Talk
The United States spends billions of dollars every year to publicly support research that has resulted in critical innovations and new technologies. Unfortunately, the outcome of this work, published articles, only provides the story of the research and not the actual research itself. This often results in the publication of irreproducible studies or even falsified findings, and it requires significant resources to discern the good research from the bad. There is way to improve this process, however, and that is to publish both the article and the data supporting the research. Shared data helps researchers identify irreproducible results. Additionally, shared data can be reused in new ways to generate new innovations and technologies. We need researchers to “React Differently” with respect to their data to make the research process more efficient, transparent, and accountable to the public that funds them.

Kristin Briney is a Data Services Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has a PhD in physical chemistry, a Masters in library and information studies, and currently works to help researchers manage their data better. She is the author of “Data Management for Researchers” and regular blogs about data best practices at dataabinitio.com.

Sharing & Storage

Proper preservation of the data ensures the integrity of the data remains intact for future use and easy access.

Reasons to share your data:

Accelerates research and provides greater exposure to data
Increases possibility of future research collaborations
Potential increased citation of source papers (Piwowar, 2007)
Increases return on research investment by allowing continued re-use of data (funding agencies value this)
Funding agencies and journals (e.g. Nature, Science) are now implementing data sharing requirements

Questions to consider before sharing your data:

How much and which aspects of your data will you share? (Raw data? Analyzed? Both?)
Are there privacy or security issues with your data and how will they be resolved? (Anonymization? Informed consent? Controlled access?)
- A very useful resource is the Open Data Release Toolkit, from the City of San Francisco.
When will you make the data available? (As soon as it's collected? Upon project completion? After publication?)
With whom will you share your data? (Your department? Your institution? Others in your field? Everyone?)

How to share your data?

Ways in which data can be shared:

Deposit in a subject-specific or institutional repository
Submit as supplementary information with an article to be published in a journal
On departmental servers
Informal peer-to-peer sharing via email or removable media

Where to store your data?

There are a number of options to choose from when deciding where to store your data. It is recommended that your data be saved and stored on a minimum of two options. Contact JMU IT to determine if JMU Central Servers are the right solution for your data storage needs. The Office of Research Integrity also has data security guidance that is especially helpful for those working with sensitive data. You can also find a subject-based repository. Other options:

External hard drive(s)
Departmental server or storage network
Third Party Cloud storage space (Use with caution! Patentable or Confidential Information should not be stored in the cloud)
Portable media (flash drives, DVDs, CDs. Use with caution! These are fragile media)

Repositories

Several options exist for you to share your data in a repository. You could explore subject-based repositories through the re3data registry or, if your data is interdisciplinary or from a domain without a specific repository, you may wish to deposit in a general repository (see PDF version below). Your liaison librarian can help you identify the most appropriate venue for your needs.

General Repositories
Comparison chart of general repositories.

Data Organization

Information About Digital Audio and Video Records
ICPSR - Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving
Section of ICPSR guide relating to data formats, documentation, and file structure.