Sharing your research data is not only a requirement of many funders, journals, and institutions; it is also a great way to promote your research. For more information on your obligations see UCD’s Research Data Management Policy.
Why share your data
Researchers devote a great deal of physical and intellectual effort to collect, manage, collate, and analyse their data before publishing their results. Many of these datasets have significant value beyond the original research, and sharing data can be beneficial in a number of ways:
- Data sharing leads to increased transparency and overall robustness of academic scholarship. Your findings can be replicated and compared with other studies.
- Data sharing creates opportunities for follow-on research and collaboration.
- Your data may be used by others, enhancing the visibility and impact of your research and allowing you to get additional credit and recognition for your work
- You may receive more citations on your publications. A (opens in a new window)recent study found that a citation advantage of up to 25% when publications are linked to research data via a repository or other permanent identifier.
What to share
Following the principle that research data should be “as open as possible, as closed as necessary’”, any data resulting from your research project should be shared where possible. At a minimum, you should take measures to ensure open access to the data needed to validate the results presented in your publications. This supports the reproducibility of your research as well as the reuse of your data.
If you're working with data that are personal or sensitive, ensure you consider data protection and consent to share the data. You should do this at the beginning of the project. Detailed guidance can be found on the UCD GDPR website.
Where to share
Research data should be submitted to a discipline-specific, community-recognised repository where possible, or to a general, multidisciplinary repository if no suitable discipline-specific repository is available. For more information see UCD Library’s Information Sheet on (opens in a new window)Where to Submit Data.
Promote your data
Below are some tips on how to promote your data and increase the visibility of your research:
- Choose an open licence for your data. The easier it is for other researchers to access your data, the more likely they are to be reused, boosting your research reputation. For example, Horizon Europe recommends Creative Commons Attribution International Public License (CC BY) or Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC 0), in line with the principle "as open as possible as closed as necessary".
- Always cite your data. By linking your data to your relevant publications, you will create more visibility for all your research outputs.
- Consider publishing a data paper. A growing number of journals accept and publish data papers, in which the data themselves are described and methodologies discussed. Data Journals are peer-reviewed journals which specialise in these types of publications.
- Teach with your dataset. Consider preparing teaching materials to complement your dataset, which you and other lecturers can use.
LibGuide! For more information see UCD Library's (opens in a new window)Research Data Management LibGuide, which includes detailed guidance on file formats, types of data, legal and ethical requirements, data management plans, funders’ requirements, sharing sensitive data, and more.