When selecting a repository for your research data, you need to consider several factors, including, the FAIR principles, where the servers are stored, and whether there is a plan for storage and funding. This page provides information and links to different types of repositories.
Important to consider
Does my data contain sensitive or confidential material?
When sharing data in a repository, it is essential to recognise that not all data can be published, as they may contain sensitive or confidential information. If you cannot publish the data openly, you should still describe them in a trusted repository and provide guidance on access requirements.
Read more about how accessible your data can be and how to prepare data for publication here:
When selecting a repository for your research data, you must consider who is responsible for the repository and where its servers are located. If they are within the EU, they are subject to European legislation, such as the GDPR. If, on the other hand, the servers are in a non-EU country, there may be limitations on the type of data that can be published there.
Is there a plan for long-term storage and funding?
You should check whether the repository has a plan for long-term storage and funding. Long-term data storage is resource intensive, and some repositories may require grants or ask for funding to ensure continued storage.
Examples of repositories
There are many different repositories, and they can be subject-specific or general.
Subject-specific repositories
There are significant advantages to selecting a subject-specific repository. You can use a repository registry to find one that aligns with your data. In the registry, you can filter by subject area, country, access policies, and other criteria.
You can also select a more general repository that covers more research areas. In Sweden, the Swedish National Data Service (SND) operates the national catalogue for research data. If you use the SND catalogue, you can get support and assistance from the library, which conducts a review of your data description. In EU projects, Zenodo is often used.
Swedish National Data Service (SND)
This service allows you to describe and share data in the national SND research data catalogue. In individual cases, SND can also store research data that does not contain personal data or other sensitive or confidential material. Your data will be assigned a persistent identifier (DOI).
When you use the SND catalogue, the library will quality check your data description before publication to ensure your research data will be understandable and reusable in the long-term.
Zenodo is a repository operated by CERN and Open Aire. The purpose is to enable you as a researcher to publish your research data openly. Your data will be assigned a persistent identifier (DOI). It is also possible to link your research data with the associated source code on GitHub.
Please contact the library for guidance on publishing data in Zenodo.
Figshare is a repository dedicated to open science. You can upload your research data free of charge (up to 20 MB) and receive a persistent identifier (DOI). Figshare includes a SciLifeLab community for life science research data.
As there is no quality control for data published in the repository, please contact the library first if you plan to use Figshare.
Contact us for guidance if you have plans to publish data. If you are considering patenting or otherwise utilising your research results, please contact the Innovation Office first.
