Local Data Repository Infrastructure Matters

Over the past seven years, the Duke University Libraries Research Data Curation Program and the Duke Research Data Repository (RDR) have developed into essential resources for the Duke research community. What began as a “proof of concept” turned into a robust, well-used data publishing service meeting both publisher and funder requirements and furthering Duke’s commitment to a “culture of open science and open scholarship to ensure transparency and accountability in research.”

The Duke Research Data Repository (RDR) has published over 310 datasets in a myriad of scientific disciplines including chemistry, biology, biomedical engineering, marine science, and medicine. Additionally, the RDR hosts datasets associated with articles published in PLOS, Nature, and PNAS and funded by NIH and NSF, their multiple sub-agencies and institutes, and others. The RDR provides a DOI for all datasets, and commits to long-term access and retention of data and curates all data based on the Data Curation Network (DCN) CURATED model. As members of the renowned Data Curation Network (DCN), we leverage the expertise of a multi-institutional consortium that shares expertise to increase the quality of data curation across all DCN affiliated repositories. The Duke Libraries are proud to be able to offer this local resource that supports the needs of Duke researchers who are not sufficiently served by disciplinary, data type or funder-based resources. In addition to providing the platform, we also provide front-line services for data management planning, data curation, disclosure risk review and referrals .

As the culture and landscape of data sharing evolves, researchers have many different repository options – from funder-sponsored repositories to discipline/community specific repositories to generalist repositories. Occasionally, journal publishers and funding agency Program Officers have questioned the suitability of institutional data repositories for long-term data sharing and preservation. To communicate the value of institutional resources focused on data sharing, we and other members of the DCN collaboratively wrote a letter to Science arguing that institutional data repositories provide valuable local infrastructure for researchers needing to meet data publishing guidelines.

In this letter, we detail how our repositories align with the FAIR guiding principles and commit to providing sustainable access to data critical for research reproducibility. This letter was published in the September 13 Issue of Science – Institutional Data Repositories are Vital (DOI: 10.1126/science.adr0789, open access copy available at: https://hdl.handle.net/11299/265639). The DCN has also published research that examined what researchers valued about their institutional data repositories and the services they provide. As one researcher noted

“I am thankful and excited for the help in curation…I see that teamwork in this final step of research means that the best possible version of the material will be available to future generations..”

All this to say, should you, as a researcher, need to demonstrate that an institutional data repository is an acceptable strategy for sharing data, we encourage you to cite the Science letter and reference the Duke Research Data Repository’s documentation clarifying how the RDR approaches compliance with the NIH Desirable Characteristics for Data Repositories . Comments or questions about the RDR can be sent to datamanagement@duke.edu.

Publications referenced:

Jen Darragh et al. (2024). Institutional data repositories are vital. Science 385,1174-1174(2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adr0789

Marsolek W, Wright SJ, Luong H, Braxton SM, Carlson J, Lafferty-Hess S (2023). Understanding the value of curation: A survey of researcher perspectives of data curation services from six US institutions. PLoS ONE 18 (11): e0293534. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293534