Share and Preserve Research Data
A research project might never be called finished. But in gathering and analysing data, material will be created that can be shared according to the motto "as closed as possible, as open as necessary".
Complete and Preserve Research Data
When a research projects is drawing to a close, the research data has to be prepared so it can be preserved in the long term. Preserving data means saving the data files in a format that will be readable in the future without requiring an particular computer equipment or software. If the research material includes things from another data producer or source, it is important to have an agreement stating whether or not this can be reproduced.
Before research material is made available, it is important to double check any legal restrictions that might apply. Research material might contain personal data where the secrecy act might apply in order to protect the integrity of the people in question.
If you want support and service from the university's Data Management Unit you can contact hb-dau@hb.se.
Share Research Data
Making research data available and preserve it can be seen a the last step of the research project. The research material that is made available becomes findable, reused and cited. Reuse of research data can happen a long time after the project has wrapped up. Others might want to control published results, or if there are accusations of scientific dishonesty. Research data—something that usually takes a lot of time and funds to produce—can also be valuable for new research, in so called secondary analysis.
Metadata can be made available through databases like that run by the Swedish National Data Service or published as supplementary material to a scientific paper or in a data journal.
If the data set is made available in a data repository, either at the university ro externally, that means it is preserved for the long term. The data will be described in a way that makes it possible to find in global searches, and given a persistent and unique identifier (for example a DOI, Digital Object Identifier), allowing for the citation of data. When it is published and made available in a standardised way, it becomes possible for others to refer to the material correctly.
If you want support and service from the university's Data Access Unit you can contact hb-dau@hb.se.
