What is a data repository?

A data repository is a storage space for researchers to deposit data sets associated with their research. These data sets can be pretty much anything, e.g., numerical results, experimental measurements, reports or images. Software is also research data but is usually stored in repositories more specifically tailored for managing code. We have a TUgitLab instance for that.

Why should I care?

Short answer: Because you have to.

Longer answer: As a researcher at TU Wien you have to comply with the Policy for Research Data Management (RDM) at TU Wien. This policy explains why RDM is important, gives details on how to handle research data and lists responsibilities, rights and duties of researchers and the TU Wien. Regarding data repositories it states that research data should be "made available for use in a suitable repository."

What is a suitable data repository?

TU Wien's RDM policy defines that a repository for research data must "comply with the FAIR principles" and that data records "must be provided with persistent identifiers". Furthermore: "The minimum retention period for research data and records is 10 years after either the assignment of a persistent identifier or the publication of a related work following research completion, whichever is later." Fortunately pretty much every decent data repository fulfills these requirements.

How do I choose the right data repository?

In general you should use the most discipline-specific data repository you can find. Ask your colleagues or use FAIRsharing and re3data.org to search for a suitable repository – both provide a list of certified data repositories.  If you can't find a discipline-specific one use one specific to your institution. In our case that is the TU Wien Research Data repository. If for some reason that also doesn't work, you can always fall back on one of the general-purpose repositories. Examples include figshare, Mendeley Data, the Open Science Framework and Zenodo but there are many more. See https://zenodo.org/record/7189481 for a comparison of some of the more common ones.

Domain-specific data repositories that might be suitable for our group:

• FAIRmat/NOMAD
• ??

What license should I choose for my data?

TU Wien's RDM policy: "In compliance with intellectual property rights, and unless third-party rights, legal requirements, Rectorate decisions, other reasonable interests or property laws prohibit it, research data should be assigned an open use license." In the appendix the policy then recommends to use licenses like the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. See also the wiki page Licensing and Copyright.

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