Research Data Management

The UO Libraries supports an institutional repository, Scholars' Bank, which can be used for publishing preprints, and a data repository, Scholars' Bank: Data, where you can deposit your data and code. We also can provide technical support should you wish to deposit your data with a field-specific repository. If your data set or group of related data sets will be more than 30 GB, we can support you in depositing to Zenodo, Dryad, ICPSR, or another data repository. By depositing in a repository, your data will be preserved according to best practices in digital preservation standards.

Please contact DataServices@uoregon.edu if you would like assistance identifying the best repository for your work, developing metadata, or converting your files to open formats for deposit.

You can get cited for your data by publishing your data via a digital repository

Possible Costs

Many excellent repositories do not charge for deposits, but also do not offer assistance curating your data. UO Libraries can offer assistance with curation and metadata when depositing to such repositories.

Other repositories charge a fee for deposit ranging from one hundred to several thousand dollars. Some repositories, such as ICPSR, charge for deposit but offer intensive curation, including migrating your data to updated file formats appropriate to your discipline and mediating access to datasets containing confidential information. If a fee-based repository is appropriate for your data, consider writing repository fees into your grant proposal.

Most repositories do not allow (or they charge money for) large deposits, and even private “cold storage” cloud solutions such as Amazon Glacier can quickly become cost prohibitive. For this reason, offline storage magnetic tapes and other large-scale storage devices is sometimes the most cost-effective choice for large (terabyte- or petabyte-scale) datasets, despite the additional barriers to data-sharing that this entails. Depending on the technology, stored data will need to be refreshed or migrated every ten years or less.

Sample UO-Specific DMP Language: All de-identified data, metadata, and code resulting from this project will be archived in UO’s Data Repository. Harvard University hosts the UO Dataverse instance and offers robust backup and archival policies. Pre-prints of papers resulting from this research will be archived in the UO Scholar’s Bank repository with DOI links to their associated data in Dataverse. Scholars Bank has the following backup schedule: daily incremental backups and weekly full backups are transferred offsite to MS Azure cloud storage. Each weekly full backup is retained for one month. Original paper files will be maintained in locked file cabinets in locked storage facilities for up to 10 years, then placed in long-term archival facilities or shredded. In the event that the PI leaves UO, the UO will work with the PI, per UO policy, to transfer active grants while retaining data as necessary to meet the state of Oregon’s record retention policy. If the data is not part of an active grant being transferred, UO will work with the PI’s new institution to develop an appropriate data use agreement.