Archive your data

In the lifecycle of research data, it is important to distinguish between the phase where data is still being manipulated and analyzed (mutable data) and the phase when research data has become static to its initially intended purpose (immutable data).

For the phase after research the Research Data Policy of your faculty or institute contains guidelines on how and where to store your data and for how long (the retention period).

Sharing archived data

Please note that Unishare/SurfDrive and Google shared drives (or any other cloud solution) do NOT assure the long term availability of shared research data and should not be used as an archive. To share and keep archived research data you can publish your data through a data repository such as DataverseNL.

Data Availability Statement

Publishers often ask for a Data Availability Statement before your publication will be reviewed or published. A data availability statement, also known as “data access statement” or “data sharing policy”, explains to the reader where data (and software) associated with the publication is available and under which conditions.

For open and restricted data you can use the persistent identifier (handle or DOI) the data repository provided when you posted and published your material. Check out the information on research data repositories below for more information. The Data Availability Statement allows for combinations if, for example, part of your data needs protection and part of your data is openly available.

Examples of Data Availability Statements:

• Springer Nature
• Taylor & Francis
• Wiley

Metadata

Adding metadata (in the form of legends, glossaries, etc.) to your files is more important than you might think because these data are essential to the interpretation and reuse (and, above all, retrieval) of datasets. Determine in advance which metadata are essential for a correct interpretation of the data and should therefore definitely be included; this way, you avoid spending a lot of time and effort on uploading files that turn out not to be that useful.

Research Output Administration

The UG research portal is a window to the world to showcase the University’s research output and activities. Every UG and UMCG staff member, including PhD students, has a profile page on the UG research portal.

When your research data and software are archived and published on the recommended repositories and listed subject specific repositories they become part of your profile, connected to your publications and other research information. The DCC cooperates with the Pure team on this service.

Are you a new UG staff member? Have a look at this brief introduction on How to use Pure.

Do you want to improve your profile page? Find more information on the Showcase your research webpage.