Can the research library help me make my research data available? What are the steps and policies?
Answer
Yes, the research library can help you make your research data available. There are a few steps involved to submit data to repositories to be archived to the public.
A. Any data you want to deposit into a public repository needs to go through RASSTI first. How you can do this:
- Go to RASSTI and select Dataset for document type.
- You will upload a PDF abstract that describes your dataset, some explanation of experiment/observations, some README type info, a few examples from your dataset, and a point of contact. Or if your data can be converted into a PDF, then you could upload everything in one file.
- If you uploaded an abstract, then you would work with your reviewers to make sure that they have access to the data itself for their review. If it is a Full Review, the Classification Office (DFS-CL) will then review your abstract (or data PDF) and approve (as appropriate) following normal RASSTI procedure. If there is any question or concerns they may reach out to you for more information. If there are any questions about this process feel free to contact rassti@lanl.gov
Once, the data is approved you can go onto step B and C.
B. Select a data repository you want to use. If you know which repository you want to use great. If you do not, we can help you find a repository that will fit your needs. Nature has some recommendations for repositories that might be helpful at https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories. To keep in mind, some repositories can be smaller and less maintained/stable, so any repository you choose make sure it has an active user/support base before depositing. A few general repositories that are free with an account and up to a certain amount of bytes include Figshare, Zenodo, and OSF.
C. Additionally, once the data is uploaded to an external repository we can also help you obtain an official DOE DOI for your dataset. Please email the URL to dataquestions@lanl.gov to help you with this. We can submit the information to the DOE’s Data ID service for a DOE DOI and include it on the OSTI Data Explorer platform. We can also include your data in the DOE Data Explorer that reuses a different DOI if you do not want the DOE DOI.