As software and hardware evolve over time, it can be very difficult for individuals and research groups to keep up. As a result, important files often become lost or unreadable within a matter of years. Digital repositories maintain your digital files and ensure that they remain usable over time. Repositories also provide online access to papers and data for the research community. They can serve as a method of publishing files and data, making them more easily citable as well as accessible.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a digital repository?
A ‘digital repository’ stores, maintains, and disseminates digital materials for a given community. Some communities are organised by subject (e.g. archaeological data, historical analyses, chemistry data, etc) while others are organised by institution (e.g. materials from members of a university, usually focused on publications and theses rather than data). The University of Cambridge’s institutional repository is DSpace@Cambridge.
The repository provides online archival storage – usually open access— and cares for digital materials, ensuring that they remain readable for as long as the repository survives.
When software and hardware advance, repositories work to move digital materials into new formats so that they stay usable. Repositories also provide support for documenting and annotating (‘metadata’) and many provide additional services such as advice and assistance with data management, formats, security, and intellectual property rights concerns.
[ back to top ] - Why would I put my data in a digital repository?
- Raise the impact of your research. Digital repositories allow you to make data easily accessible to more people than ever before. The more people who can use your data, the more public good it can do and the more it can do to enrich your field of research. Open online access makes new collaborations and uses of data possible. In some areas (e.g. Archaeological excavation data), the data is often unique and many researchers feel a moral compunction to make it available to others (and, of course, to ensure its long-term preservation).
- Raise your research profile. The more other researchers cite your data, the more they will know and admire your work. As the trend toward online open access rises, the prestige associated with data citations is growing. (For more information on citing data, visit our Citations page). In addition, making some data available can increase the credibility of your analyses.
- Keep your data safe and readable in the long term. Many researchers hold on to an old computer from a decade or two ago because it is the only way to access their old files, created in formats that are now obsolete. Once these computers break, the files are essentially lost. Many repositories store and back up your treasured research products and will, if appropriate file formats are used, attempt to move the data into new file formats as the original formats become obsolete. So long as the repository exists, your materials will remain readable and usable.
- Your funder may require it. This is more and more common. You can find summary of funders’ open access requirements using the SHERPA/JULIET database. Even if your funder does not require that you deposit your data, a plan to deposit your data may strengthen your bid.
[ back to top ] - I worked hard to collect this data! Doesn’t this give someone else the chance to scoop me?
There is definitely a trade-off. Most repositories have an ‘open access’ philosophy (and policy), so depositing in a repository is a way of publishing your digital materials as well as maintaining them.
Some will allow you to submit your data at the end of a project (when it is easiest to pull the data together) but embargo (restrict access) its release for a few years.
In some situations, an institutional repository may allow you to store part of a set of materials publically and will maintain the other, more proprietary parts while keeping them hidden and inaccessible.
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How do I put my digital files in a repository?
That depends on the repository, so you'll have to consult the relevant repositories web page, or contact them directly.
Some are free to deposit/free to access, and others charge a fee to maintain, share, and access data. While all repositories will require some form of documentation or annotation (‘metadata’) for your data, the format and degree of documentation varies from repository to repository (for more info on documentation/metadata, visit our Documentation and Metadata page). In many cases, the repository support staff will be happy to provide support in this process, either by providing advice on approaches of deposit, or by making deposits on your behalf.
Creating this documentation takes time, so you probably won’t want to deposit all of your shareable data, but it will ensure that your data is usable for years—or generations— to come.
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If I published my paper/data in a peer-reviewed journal, can I still deposit it in an open digital repository?
This depends on the journal (especially for papers), but the majority do allow it. Contact your journal for more information, or, you can find summary information on journals’ copyright policies using the SHERPA/RoMEO database.
You can also often ask your repository for help with this. The DSpace@Cambridge support team is happy to help you find an answer, regardless of your target repository.
e-mail: support@repository.cam.ac.uk
phone: 01223 (3)33130 or (7)65740
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How do I find and access data in digital repositories?
There are a growing number of digital repositories, with varying content types (e.g. articles, data sets, images, etc) and disciplinary foci.
OpenDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories) maintains an online list of open access digital repositories, and has a content search tool (still in trial phase, as of October 2010).
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Further Reading
Consult the DSpace@Cambridge Support Pages and DSpace@Cambridge support team for further information about repositories at University of Cambridge and beyond, as well as data management and copyright support.
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