Storing your data

Proper data storage is an integral part of not only the FAIR principles that open science policies commonly mention, but also the terms and conditions of funding providers. In the context of these conditions, the most common requirement is to publish research data in what is called a repository. This term refers to a specific kind of online platform developed for long-term preservation and sharing of data. Data repositories are therefore different from, for example, university data storage, which is typically only accessible to staff and serves as a place to store data during the course of a project. By contrast, repositories are typically intended for storing final data, often after the research project is concluded, and anyone can then search the repository for this data using the detailed metadata and keywords attached to it.

Data repositories typically fall into three categories:

  • Domain-specific repositories – Repositories designed to store data from specific disciplines. This is the most commonly recommended type of repository due to its ability to collect subject-specific data in one place. However, there may not be enough domain-specific repositories to cover the wide range of existing research disciplines, and as such, it may not always be possible to find a repository of this type for your data. You may search for repositories dedicated to your field using services such as OpenDOAR or re3data.
  • General repositories – General repositories often serve as a fallback option in case a suitable domain-specific repository is not available. They allow the storage of files from any domain and are therefore adapted to a wide range of formats.
  • Institutional repositories – Some institutions run their own data repositories to store datasets from their staff's research projects. This option is not commonly considered ideal for data findability, as unless the contents of the institutional repository are visible in other, larger databases or lists, it may be unlikely that the data shared in an institutional repository will be found or cited by large numbers of users.

If you are having trouble finding a suitable domain-specific repository for your data, you can use the University of Ostrava community in Zenodo. You can find detailed instructions for how to create an account and upload your data below:


Updated: 06. 12. 2024