UK Data Service » Scientific Data approves UK Data Service as recommended data depository

"The UK Data Service is delighted to be the first UK-based social science repository to be listed as a recommended repository by Scientific Data. Scientific Data, the open-access data journal of Nature Publishing Group, publishes the Data Descriptor article type and recommends that datasets accompanying manuscripts be deposited in established and trusted repositories, such as the UK Data Service ReShare. This ensures that these datasets are stably preserved for the longer-term, thoroughly peer-reviewed, and will be easily accessible to the research community after publication. Using the UK Data Service’s ReShare repository, researchers can easily upload data collections in the social sciences, humanities and medical research, describe these collections and select the access conditions and licences that are best suited to their data. Researchers can then decide whether to publish these data either as fully open data or as safeguarded data that are made available under the UK Data Service’s End User Licence. Safeguarded data may be selected when anonymised data have been collected from human participants (via surveys or interviews), but where there is a risk of participant de-identification resulting from potential linkage to other data. The ReShare repository has inbuilt safeguards, such as requiring registration in order to access safeguarded datasets. This allows social science data to be shared and made available for research as openly as possible. The UK Data Service also reviews these data before their release, so researchers can be confident that they meet with the necessary ethical and legal requirements. The UK Data Service fully supports the concept of scientific transparency and is increasingly working with journals to help support their policies. The collaboration with Scientific Data gives social science and humanities researchers the opportunity to increase the discoverability of their data via submission of a Data Descriptor, whilst maintaining UK Data Service’s safeguarding of sensitive data."