Sharing data

Select data to share

Developing a good storage and sharing strategy prevents unwanted loss and makes your data available for current and future reuse.

How you decide which data to share will be based on academic judgement, funder or legal requirements, and practical factors such as volume and cost.

One way to approach the question is to consider what data another researcher would need to validate your findings.

Or, turn the question around: if you read a research paper which included a statement about where to locate the underlying data, what would you expect to see?

You should:

identify how data might be reused – for instance, verification or further analysis.
identify data that must be shared – is there is a policy requirement?
identify data that should be shared – does the data have long term value?
weigh up the costs and benefits, in terms of time, resource, and costs of repository storage and long-term curation.
ensure you have followed our safeguarding guidance.