Research Data Toolkit: Choosing a Repository
Library Data Services
Library Data Services caters to researchers interested in working with data, mapping, texts, visualization, and technology. Many of these services are available online. Davis Library Data Services, located on the second floor of Davis Library, offers:
- A computing lab with specialized software for GIS and data visualization & analysis.
- Walk-in assistance provided by knowledgeable student consultants during set hours.
- Consultations with specialists for more in-depth inquiries (by appointment).
- Spaces for collaboration and presentation, complete with white boards and external displays.
- Technology short courses and programs that promote digital scholarship.
Choosing a Repository
The University Libraries' Carolina Digital Repository is available at no cost to Carolina researchers to archive research materials including datasets. See the Research Data Management Core's web site for information about another free option, UNC Dataverse.
The following considerations may help you select the best repository for your data.
See also the Assess Data Needs tab at left.
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Do you...
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Repository Options
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| Does your funding agency or journal require a specific data repository? | Choose that repository. |
| Do you have genetic/genomic data? | Consult the list of NIH Data Sharing Repositories for appropriate repository for genetic/genomic data. |
| Do you have sensitive data? | ICPSR is also a service free to UNC affiliates* which provides a range of options for securing sensitive data. (*The Office for Research pays for UNC's membership in this consortium.) See the UNC ICPSR guide for more information. The Carolina Digital Repository (CDR) does not provide data encryption, but collections can be limited to UNC users via ONYEN login. |
| Does your funding agency or journal require your data be openly accessible? | The CDR is open access. ICPSR only offers completely open access within its OpenICPSR collection. For those deposits, depositors themselves may need to pay for data curation and/or restricted access, regardless of their institution's membership in the Consortium. |
| Will you need to add to your data deposit after leaving UNC? | The CDR requires an ONYEN to login, so changes will not be possible after leaving UNC. |
| Do you have media-rich data, e.g., images, video and/or audio content? | The CDR accepts many file types, and has embedded viewing options for audio, video, and images. |
| Do you want to have your data archived together with the publication in which you cite them? | The CDR archives publications as well as data, and provides digital object identifiers (DOIs) which authors may cite in publications to link readers to related datasets. |
| What is the (ballpark) size of your data? | The CDR accepts up to 500 MB by self deposit, and up to 2 TB with staff assistance by contacting cdr@unc.edu. |
| Do you need data cleaning or other curation services, or is it ready for deposit? | The CDR offers limited data curation services by contacting cdr@unc.edu. |
Have other questions about finding the right repository? Email dataplan@listserv.unc.edu.
Find Places to Deposit Your Data
- re3dataGlobal registry of research data repositories. Consolidates Databib and re3data.org registries. Broad subject area coverage including the humanities, sciences, medicine, and technology. Useful for finding appropriate repositories to store and access data sets.
- NIH Data Sharing RepositoriesNIH-supported data repositories that make data accessible for reuse. Most accept submissions of appropriate data from NIH-funded investigators (and others), but some restrict data submission to only those researchers involved in a specific research network.
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. We provide guidance and resource referrals to help UNC faculty, staff and students with data management and developing their data management plans.
UNC federally funded researchers, for in-depth review and assistance creating your data management plans in compliance with federal requirements, contact UNC's Research Data Management Core for assistance.
