Library services for researchers - Research data management

Use research data 

You can make your research data accessible and reusable by adding it to a repository and assigning an appropriate licence. As data citations promote the reproducibility of results, you might consider providing a recommended citation for your data. 

When you reuse data consider: 

• Are the creators of the data reputable and reliable? 
• Is the repository you found the data in reputable? 
• What licencing options for reuse have been applied to the data? 
• How was the data collected, and has it been modified? 
• How will you cite the data appropriately? 

Our Statistics and data guide will help you find data to reuse. 

Cite research data 

Research data, like any other source referred to in your work, needs to be cited to ensure research integrity. Citing research data acknowledges the data creators to comply with Creative Commons licensing terms, and helps other researchers to locate the data you’ve used, promoting reproducibility of results. 

While there is no universally accepted format for data citation, it will usually include creator, year of publication, title, publisher, type of data, and DOI or other identifier. When reusing existing data, the creators may include a preferred data citation format, and example citations are available from ARDC’s Data and Software Citation and in our referencing & citing guides for Harvard and APA 7 styles.