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Research Data Management

This guide provides information on how to better manage and share research data in any discipline.

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Dryad Data Repository

The Dryad Data Repository is an open and curated data sharing platform for researchers to share and publish their data. Dryad is free for UCI affiliates. Each dataset goes through a curation process during submission to check for FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability).

Key features of Dryad include:

  • Publish dataset an independent dataset or as part of a journal submission
  • Link data with related articles, code, and other datasets
  • Permanent data citations with a DataCite DOI for attribution
  • Preservation in Core Trust Seal certified Merritt repository
  • Standardized views, downloads, and citation metrics in accordance with Make Data Count
  • Research data from any discipline is accepted
  • Datasets must be complete (no in-progress data) and in a re-usable form
  • 300 GB max per data publication
  • All data published under CC0 license 

Useful links

Discipline-specific repositories

Search for discipline-specific data repositories:

General purpose data repositories

The following repositories accept data from any discipline:

  • Dryad Data Repository
    • A curated resource that makes research data discoverable, freely reusable, and citable. Dryad provides a general-purpose home for a wide diversity of data types. Dryad is co-developed with University of California, and free to use for UC researchers.
  • Zenodo
    • "An open repository for all scholarship, enabling researchers from all disciplines to share and preserve their research outputs, regardless of size or format. Free to upload and free to access, Zenodo makes scientific outputs of all kinds citable, shareable and discoverable for the long term"
  • FigShare
    • "A repository where users can make all of their research outputs available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner. figshare features aim to help you organize your research and get as much impact for it as possible, without adding time or effort to your day."
  • Harvard Dataverse
    • “Harvard Dataverse is a free data repository open to all researchers from any discipline, both inside and outside of the Harvard community, where you can share, archive, cite, access, and explore research data. You can open your data to the general public, or restrict access and define customizable terms of use.”
  • Open Science Framework (OSF)
    • "OSF is a free and open source project management tool that supports researchers throughout their entire project lifecycle. As a collaboration tool, OSF helps research teams work on projects privately or make the entire project publicly accessible for broad dissemination. As a workflow system, OSF enables connections to the many products researchers already use, streamlining their process and increasing efficiency."
  • Mendeley Data
    • "Mendeley Data is an open research data repository, where researchers can upload and share their research data. Datasets can be shared privately amongst individuals, as well as published to share with the world. Search 26+ million datasets from domain-specific and cross-domain repositories."

How to Use Dryad

1. Go to Dryad. Click the Login button in the upper-right corner of the screen.

Dryad homepage

2. Click the “Login or create your ORCID iD” button.

Dryad page with button to "login or create your ORCID iD"

3. Enter your ORCID iD or UCI email address and your ORCID password and click the “Sign into ORCID” button. If you do not have an ORCID iD, you can click the “Register now” link to sign up. Click the Authorize button to connect your ORCID iD to your Dryad account. In the future, you will be able to login to Dryad using only your ORCID iD and password.

4. Check that your Dryad account is associated with UC Irvine. You can set this up by selecting "University of California, Irvine" as your partner institution and clicking Login to verify.

Dryad page to link your institution to Dryad

5. After your account is associated with UC Irvine, you will see the UC Irvine logo at the top of the page.

Dryad homepage with a UCI logo

When you are ready to submit your data to Dryad, start by reviewing Dryad’s good data practices for tips on how to organize and document your data to support re-use and discovery.

1. Log into Dryad using the instructions above.

2. Select "Start New Submission" to begin the submission process for your dataset.

Dryad: my datasets page

3. If your data is used in a research article, choose “Yes” and select the source from which to import information:

  • Submitted manuscript
    • Enter the Journal Name and Manuscript Number for your manuscript. If the journal you have submitted your manuscript with works with Dryad, click the Import Metadata button to import the metadata from the journal.

Dryad screen to import submitted manuscript information

  • Preprint
    • Enter the Preprint Server (e.g., bioRxiv) and DOI for your article and then click the “Import Metadata” button to import the article’s metadata.

Dryad page to link your preprint

  • Published Article
    • Enter the Journal name and DOI to import the metadata.

Dryad page to link your published article

4. If you are submitting a stand-alone dataset that is not associated with a research article, select “No” and enter the submission title.

  • Add any Additional Authors using the Add Author button.

Dryad page to add authors

  • In the next series of steps, add the following information: 
    • Abstract
    • Methods
    • Research Domain 
    • Subject Keywords
    • Support/Research facility (optional) 
    • Funding information (optional)
  • Check the box to confirm your files are compatible with the CC0 license waiver.

Dryad page asking compliance questions: Can your data be shared in the public domain?

  • If your data contains information on human subjects, select “Yes” and complete the Human subjects de-identification statement:
    Dryad page asking if your data contains human subject information
  • Upload your files.
    • Upload datafiles and (optionally) software and/or supplemental information:Upload your data files to Dryad
      • Once the file(s) are uploaded, tabular data files will be automatically checked for any inconsistencies such as blank cells, missing headers, or incorrectly formatted data. To view the results of the data check, click on “View alerts”. You can replace the data file with a corrected version at this step, or click the “Next” button to proceed with the original files.  

Notifications about inconsistencies found in your files

You can upload an existing README file or create one using the step-by-step tool in Dryad:

Page with an option to build or import your README file

The following information should be provided in the README file:

  • Data description
  • List of files
  • List of variables and their definitions, abbreviations, and measurement units
  • Code/software needed to view the data
  • Access information to other publicly accessible sources of the data, or sources from which your data was derived

Enter links to any existing works such as preprints, articles, other datasets, software, and supplemental information related to your data:

Page where users can add the DOI or URL of related works

 

Select whether to make files public or keep them private for peer review, and agree to Dryad’s terms.

Page with questions asking: "Are your files ready to publish?" and "Do you agree to Dryad's terms?"

After reviewing your submission, click “Submit for publication”

Once your dataset is submitted and the private for peer review period (if applicable) has ended, your dataset will go to curation by the Dryad team. In the curation process, the team will contact you with any questions about the dataset and with options to improve the organization, readability, and/or reusability of your dataset.