Benefits of deposit

• A big advantage of depositing your data is that they will be preserved - even for your own future use.
• The data submission process creates a permanent record, a persistent identifier (DOI), and a suggested citation, so that your work can be formally attributed when re-analysed by others.
• Your data will be discoverable through Google and other search engines to maximise visibility and impact. The service can provide you with usage statistics so you know when your data has been downloaded.
• You do not need to maintain your own website to deliver your data; once deposited, management of your data is assured by Research Data Service staff.

For funders and publishers

Research councils are under pressure to get the most value out of publicly funded research. Increasingly they are requiring data management plans at the proposal stage, indicating how your data will be managed during the life of the project and how data will be shared after publication of your results.

Edinburgh DataShare acts as a trusted repository for your research data, where none is designated by your funder. Your data will be discoverable and accessible for others to use beyond the life of your research project. A permanent identifier can be recorded with your funder to ensure persistent access.

In addition, some publishers require that the data on which a publication is based is made available by the author. By depositing once you can meet all future requests by researchers wanting a copy of your data.

University Research Data Management Policy

The university's new RDM policy is designed to ensure that researchers 'do the right thing' with their data and that appropriate services and support are in place to make it easy for them. It covers data management planning, making your data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable), and deposit in suitable repositories.

University of Edinburgh Research Data Management Policy