NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy: Data Repositories
Created by Health Science Librarians
NIH and Other Guidance on Selecting a Data Repository
NIH encourages the use of established repositories. Depositing data in a quality repository generally improves the FAIRness of data - Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. NIH Institutes and Centers may designate specific data repositories for use to preserve and share data.
Primary consideration should be given to data repositories that are discipline or data-type specific to support effective data discovery and reuse.
If no appropriate discipline or data-type specific repository is available, researchers should consider a variety of other potentially suitable data sharing options such as inclusion of small datasets (up to 2 GB) as supplementary materials submitted to PubMed Central, deposit in generalist repositories or institutional repositories or submission of large datasets to cloud-based repositories for data access, preservation and sharing.
Repository Types:
- Open: distributed online and free of cost or other access barriers
- Subject-specific: limited to data of a specific type or discipline
- Generalist: not restricted to a specific data type, format, content, or disciplinary focus
- Institutional: associated with and restricted to hosting data from a specific university or other research institution
- Nature’s Data Repository GuidanceNature Publishing's data repository guidance for authors who must deposit their data to a data repository as part of the manuscript submission process.
1. NIH Repositories
- NIH-Supported Repositories for sharing scientific dataFilterable list of 70+ NIH-supported scientific data repositories.
2. Subject Specific Repositories
3. UNC Repositories
- Choosing a RepositoryThe considerations described on this page of the Research Data Toolkit guide may help you select the best repository for your data.
- Carolina Digital RepositoryThe Carolina Digital Repository (CDR), UNC institutional repository, is a digital archive for scholarly materials, including research data, produced by members of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill community. The main goal of the CDR is to keep UNC digital scholarly output safe, accessible and discoverable for as long as needed. The CDR does not accept data which contain personally identifiable or sensitive information.
- Consider the CDR for your NIH-funded data - visit this CDR Blog post for information on how the CDR meets the NIH’s Desirable Characteristics for All Data Repositories.
- Contact cdr@unc.edu if you have questions.
- UNC DataverseUNC Dataverse is a trusted repository for archiving, sharing, and accessing research data. The Odum Institute makes UNC Dataverse available to researchers from all disciplines for data archiving and sharing enabling compliance with the FAIR Principles for making data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Researchers can also find valuable datasets that others have made publicly available, including those donated to the Odum Institute’s collection of historical social science data. UNC Dataverse is available to the UNC community at no cost. If you need assistance with data archiving, the Odum Institute offers data management and curation services for a fee. Contact odumarchive@unc.edu if you have questions or would like to learn more about how Odum Institute can support your research..
4. Generalist Repositories
- NIH List of Generalist RepositoriesWhen investigators cannot locate a repository for their discipline or the type of data they generate, a generalist repository can be a useful place to share data. Generalist repositories accept data regardless of data type, format, content, or disciplinary focus. NIH does not recommend a specific generalist repository. This list is not exhaustive, however it is provided as a guide for locating generalist repositories.
Other Tools for Finding Data Repositories
- The Registry of Research Data Repositories (Re3Data))Searchable, browseable, and filterable registry of research data repositories.
Contact Us
For further assistance:
If you would like assistance creating your data management plan or did not find the agency information you needed here, please contact us at dataplan@listserv.unc.edu.