When working with large data files - most web browsers can only cope with approximately 10 GB - using the desktop uploader or the figshare API may be more convenient for you. For more information click here.

Every researcher can upload up to 5 GB of data per year to the 4TU.ResearchData repository free of charge. By default, this data will be available via Open Access and be stored for a minimum of 15 years. Your data will be backed-up at three different locations to ensure its safety.

Funding

• Are you a researcher at Eindhoven University of Technology, the University of Twente or TU Delft and do you have research data from completed research?
  You can deposit up to 1TB of data free of charge per year. For depositing larger data collections, we charge a one-time fee of €1.50/GB.  So for example, if you  submit 3TB (= 3072 GB) of data, you will be invoiced for €3.072 (1.50*2048).
   
• Are you a researcher at Wageningen University & Research and do you have research data from completed research?
  You can deposit up to 100 GB of data free of charge per year. For depositing larger datasets we charge a one-time fee of €3,- per GB which is covered by your university.
   
• Are you a researcher at another, non-member, research institution and do you have research data from completed research?
  You can deposit up to 5 GB of data free of charge. For uploads larger than 5GB we charge a one-time fee of  €4.50 per GB. For uploads larger than 5GB we charge a one-time fee of  €4.50 per GB.

 

If you are unsure whether you are able to pay for your data, or if you have any other question about the costs, please contact us at researchdata(at)4tu.nl.

 

Descriptive metadata are indispensable for the preservation, retrieval and re-use of datasets. They provide answers to questions concerning the person creating the data, the subject of the data, the type of file, geographic information and other aspects. In other words, metadata are ‘data about data’. 

Metadata make use of international standards for data exchange. This ensures that the information and the associated dataset can be found by search engines.

Substantive metadata are important primarily for the user of the data. For example, consider a codebook that tells how the data should be read or interpreted. We strongly encourage you to add such information in the form of a README file.

When uploading, you will be asked to enter the following descriptive metadata:

Authors *	Main researchers involved in producing the data.
Title *	Name or title by which the dataset is known.
Categories *	Discipline(s) or field(s) of research to which the dataset belongs.
Item type *	Defines the content of the item (dataset)
Keyword(s) *	Subject, keyword or key phrase describing the dataset.
Description *	Concise description of the contents of the dataset. Describe the research objective, type of research, method of data collection and type of data.
Funding	Name of the organization that provides financial support for your research. This field is integrated with Dimensions, which allows you to lookup and select funder and grant information from a comprehensive list using the grant name, code or funder body. If the grant code is not in the list, you will still be able to add free text.
References	References (links) to any relevant content or external sources that help describe the resource.
Licence *	Terms and conditions on how the dataset may be used. Our recommended licence is CC0 as it makes your data maximally reusable.
Organizations	Name of the organization that contributed to the creation of the resource.
Publisher	Holder of the data (4TU.ResearchData)
Language	The primary language of the resource. When no language is added, 4TU.ResearchData will automatically assign ‘English’.
Time coverage	Indicate the dates to which the data refer. Enter the year, or the beginning and ending date.
Geolocation	The geographic area to which the data refer (e.g. municipality, town/city, region, country)
Geolocation longitude	Geographic longitude in decimal degrees, East is positive, West is negative. Values: -180 to 180.
Geolocation latitude	Geographic latitude in decimal degrees, North is positive, South is negative. Values: -90 to 90.
Format	Format of the data file(s), e.g. the media type like image/jpeg or a description like “g-zipped shape files”.
Data Link	Link to the data that is an integral part of the current item, e.g. an OpenDAP catalog with netCDF files on our OpenDAP server.
Derived From	URL of the dataset from which the current item was derived.
Same As	URL of exactly the same data. This can be a copy in another location or an alternative URL that redirects to the current item.

*required

Auxiliary information necessary to interpret the data, such as explanations of codes, abbreviations, or algorithms used, should be included as accompanying documentation.
Read more in the Deposit guidelines and Guidelines for creating a README file.

Previous studies have indicated that publications containing links to the underlying data are cited more frequently than are publications without such links. By storing your research data in 4TU.Centre for Research Data archive, you can encourage the reuse of your data for new research or verification.

Permanent identification

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are used to create a permanent, stable link to the dataset. Even if the location of the dataset changes, the cited dataset can always be retrieved.

Every dataset in the archive of 4TU.ResearchData is provided with a DOI (through DataCite Netherlands). 4TU.ResearchData archives the data in a permanent and sustainable manner, fully according to the guidelines of the international CoreTrustSeal.

More than one DOI

DOIs can be assigned at every level of detail or size within a publication. For example, a DOI can be assigned to an entire data collection, as well as to each component within the data collection. In the choice of which levels should be registered with a DOI, researchers should proceed from the expectations of future data users. Is it likely that the objects within the data collection will be cited?

Link between publication and dataset

To promote the visibility and the sharing of your datasets, we recommend referring to the DOIs of your datasets in your articles or PhD thesis. You can even reserve a DOI in advance.

Need help?

Contact 4TU.ResearchData for questions or support.

The choice of file format is of essential importance in order to ensure that the research data will remain usable and ‘legible’ in the future. 4TU.ResearchData therefore strongly encourages the use of standard, exchangeable or open file formats. For the preferred formats, 4TU.ResearchData guarantees that the research data will remain accessible and that they will be migrated or converted if necessary.

4TU.ResearchData provides two levels of support for file formats:

• Full preservation: All reasonable measures will be taken to ensure that the file formats remain legible and usable. These measures include migration, normalisation and conversion.
• Bit-level preservation: Access to the data object will be offered in the file format that was originally provided.

Please find here our preferred file formats.

If you are unsure of the suitability of your file formats for the data you want to deposit, please contact us.

NetCDF and OPeNDAP

Most of the datasets in the 4TU.ResearchData archive are coded in netCDF (Network Common Data Form), which is both a data model and a data format which is very efficient for multi-dimensional array-oriented data. This data can be temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction in both vector and raster format. Although generic, netCDF is mostly and widely used in atmospheric sciences and oceanography. 

The format is self-describing, i.e. it includes general metadata as well as detailed metadata about variables, dimensions and units used, in a fully machine-readable way (as opposed to, say, a spreadsheet with column headings which is not really machine-readable).

Access to netCDF data (and HDF5) is further enhanced by serving the data via the OPeNDAP protocol. OPeNDAP stands for Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol. A major advantage using OPeNDAP is the ability to retrieve subsets of files without the need to download the whole dataset, and also the ability to aggregate series of data files, e.g. a time series, into one ‘virtual’ dataset. OPeNDAP makes it possible for datasets to be directly approachable through programming languages.

If NetCDF data are pasted together with OPeNDAP, it is easier to perform a ‘query’ that will return an accurately defined selection out of the data. It allows users to view a section of the data, thus saving a considerable amount of download time.

Our data experts will be happy to tell you more.

Additional information about netCDF is here available and about OPeNDAP at https:www.opendap.org.

4TU.ResearchData has published a report on its use of NetCDF. Our OPeNDAP server can be reached at https://opendap.4tu.nl/. 

As a data producer, you will be asked to consent to a Deposit Agreement. By doing so, you grant 4TU.ResearchData a non-exclusive licence to store the data and make them available to third parties.

When depositing your data you are required to select a licence for your data as part of the deposit process. A licence will define what others may or may not do with your data. Read our guidance for more information on the licence types we offer.

As a data user, you need to consent to the Terms of Use. By using the 4TU.ResearchData repository site or any of its content, you accept and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and all applicable laws and regulations.

We recommend data to be "open” whenever possible. However, you can also embargo the data (delay access for a specified time) or restrict who gets access to data. Data should be restricted if they are of sensitive nature (e.g. still contain personal information because the data could not be fully anonymised).

For guidance, consult the GDPR policy and guidelines of your home institute on how to handle sensitive and personal data.

The following access levels can be applied in 4TU.ResearchData:

Open access

There are no restrictions on access to the data; anyone can view and download a copy. 

This ease of access makes your data more likely to be reused and makes it possible for others to verify the results of your research. Open access is the best choice for publishing data that aren’t confidential.

Open access is the default setting for research data in 4TU.ResearchData by which all datasets will be directly accessible to others, free of charge. The dataset will be placed in the public domain or made available under a suitable licence.

Temporary embargoed access 

Temporary embargo is a period during which a dataset, that will ultimately be made public, is unavailable and not accessible to anyone else. In some cases it may be preferable to delay publication of your data, e.g. until your journal article is published, or for commercial reasons when filing for a patent. 

When you want to apply an embargo date on your dataset, select "Apply embargo" in the metadata form, and select the period or enter the end date of the embargo period.  Add the reason why the files are under embargo in the appropriate boxes.

4TU.ResearchData will restrict access to the data until the end of the embargo period; at which time, the content will automatically become publicly available.

Permanent embargoed access (restricted access)

Restricted access, whereby you set conditions on when and how access is granted, allows your data to be securely reused, protecting the data for commercial, ethical or legal reasons. If your data are sensitive, and the sensitive information can't be removed without the dataset losing value, then "Permanent embargo" is a good option to choose when publishing.

Please note that sharing confidential data requires precautions and safety measures to prevent the data from being accessed by unauthorized users. That’s why we strongly recommend drawing up an End User License Agreement (EULA), which clarifies what users can and cannot do with the dataset. A template for creating an EULA can be found here.

We advise you to read our guidance on Restricted Access for more detailed information on ‘How to publish a restricted dataset’ and ‘How to access a restricted dataset’.

In addition to the above access levels, it is also possible to create:

A metadata-only record

A metadata-only record can be created when you’ve stored your data somewhere else, for example in case of sensitive data that is stored at a secure location outside 4TU.Researchdata, but you want to get a DOI to link to it.

Need to create a metadata-only record? Just click “metadata record only” at the top of the metadata form and enter the reason.

A private link/URL

You may need to share your dataset (e.g.for peer review purposes) before it is actually published. To do this, click “generate private link” in the metadata form. You will be able to send the resulting private link to, for example, the peer reviewers.

Via the Collections tab you can collate data under a theme. They can be either private or public, and are assigned a DOI when published.

Follow these steps to create and publish a collection:

      1. Create a Collection

Go to the Collections tab and select the ‘+ Create a new collection’ button from the top left. This opens the form where you can add metadata to the collection. Complete the sections with a green dot next to them to make it public. The more information you provide, the more discoverable your Collection will be.

Click Save changes once you’ve completed the form.

       2. Add data

There are two ways to add data to a Collection:

1. Once you’ve created the Collection, select ‘Add public items’ or ‘Add from My data’. If you select the first option, you can search for items across all instances of figshare, or search for items only from 4TU.ResearchData. Select those you wish to add to your collection and select ‘Add selected item’. If you select the second option, your search is limited to those items you have created in your own My data area.
2. When you have found a public item, select '+ Collect' and choose the collection to which you want to add the item.

      3. Publish a Collection

Once you’ve collected your data, you can make your collection public by selecting the Manage gear wheel on the right side of the screen and selecting ‘Publish collection’. Once you have published a collection, it is permanent and cannot be unpublished.