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Research Data Services

Where, Why and When can you share your data

You can deposit your data @ TWU data repository - There are a variety of tools and resources available to share your research data. We encourage faculty, staff and students to deposit their data in Texas Data Repository (TDR). TDR is a statewide archive of research data from Texas Digital Library (TDL) and Texas Woman's University is a member institutions. 

To deposit click on TWU Data Repository link below: 

Things to consider about storage:

When evaluating your storage and backup options ask yourself the following questions:

  • What is the best option for my research project?
  • What kind of storage suits your type of data?
  • Is my data sensitive? Do I need to comply with privacy laws?
  • Is the cloud a safe place to store my data?
  • What is my funder's requirements for data storage, preservation, and sharing?

Deposit data in other repository - Whether it is a disciplinary, subject, general, or institutional data repository this can be a good method for making data freely available, complying with funder requirements, and requires no ongoing maintenance by you - but you cannot control who accesses data. See below for other Data Repositories 

  • Increase your research impact

Sharing your data enables wider dissemination of your research and you get credit for all your research. By depositing your data in a repository you'll get a permanent identifier, ensuring your data is discoverable and secure,this in turn can result in a higher citation count.

  • Meet grant requirements

Many funding agencies now require that researchers share the data collected for a funded research project.

  • Preserve your data

Depositing your data in a data repository protects your research time and preserves your research contribution for you and others to use.

  • Maintain Integrity

Managing your data throughout its life cycle will ensure that you and others can understand use the data in the future.

  • Promote new discoveries 

Making data available to others ensures your research is truly reproducible and your data you could provide a catalyst for discovery and support future innovations.

Most funding agencies require researchers to share  their data within 12 months of article publications. However, there are different requirments based on the type of research, discipline, and funding agency requirements.

  • You can deposit data in any file type.
  • You can deposit data from any research discipline.
  • You can edit the license that governs re-use of the data. (CC0 is the default.)
  • You cannot deposit data that contains confidential or sensitive information.
  • Keep anything irreproducible, such as observations specific to a particular time and place,
  • Retain results that are tied to a specific publication or presentation,
  • Discard intermediate tests or failed experiments at the end of a project.

If you have sensitive data (for example, medical data about human subjects) you will need to take precautions. Even after you anonymize the data, due to data potential sensitivity it may risky to share.

For more information on what data you can share with Texas Data Repository click go to: 

For question about copyright go to:

Below are the links to videos that will help you better understand the importance of sharing your data, proper data citation and credit, copyright issues related to data, and some of the data restrictions. 

Credits:  Earth Sciences Information Partnership (ESIP)

These are the two most common options that  researchers use to manage persistent identifiers in the form of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs).