The purpose of Washington University Research Data repository (WURD) is to provide an institutional solution for Washington University affiliates’ research datasets. Researcher submitted datasets are generally pubic, open access, but we do have a few other types of collections, some of which have access restrictions.
What makes a “collection”?
Data submitted by WashU Researchers is placed in the WashU Researcher Data collection. Data that are placed into a collection outside of the WashU Researcher Data collection are put there for functional purposes to indicate 1) access restrictions, or 2) large, thematic connections between datasets. A thematic collection is made up of more than 20 datasets that can be connected by a clear theme.
Curation
Data curation is a process by which we review datasets and evaluate whether they are meeting institutional, community and federal data sharing standards. This includes guidelines outlined in the OSTP 2022 memo on public access to federally funded research, the Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research, and the FAIR data principles.
FAIR Data
FAIR data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
Findability: We provide a digital object identifier (DOI) and help you create robust metadata.
Accessibility: Our repository uses open protocols, metadata, and data standards to make sure the data and metadata can be accessed. We expose our structured DataCite metadata via OAI-PMH. Service Providers then make OAI-PMH service requests to harvest that metadata. OAI-PMH is a set of six verbs or services that are invoked within HTTP.
Interoperability: We make sure data are in available in open formats with open licenses to the greatest extent possible. Most of our licenses are Creative Commons open licenses, or open software licenses.
Reusable: We review the datasets and their accompanying metadata to make sure they are understandable and functioning as intended.
With each submission, Data Services assesses it for FAIRness:
ORCid complete
DOI assigned
Affiliation information
Award information complete
Required DataCite metadata complete
Recommended DataCite metatdata complete
Optional DataCite metadata complete
Curatorial Review complete
Readme "general information" complete
Readme "sharing/access information " complete
Readme "data and file overview" complete
Readme "methodological information" complete
Readme "data specific information" complete
Transformed to common format
Open Licenses Selected
Suggested Citation
Retention
Datasets are retained for 10 years and receive a curatorial review. When a dataset reaches 10 years it is assessed in cooperation with the submitter to ensure it's in receivng the proper stewardship. It may be reviewed at other times as well, for example during a platform migration.
Preservation
Published datasets receive PREMIS metadata and integrity checks as well as being exported to our local instance of Archivematica and stored in an additional location.
Who We Are
Data Services
The Data Services team administer the repository and curate datasets for WashU affiliated faculty.
Rihannon Iha, Chemistry Librarian and Data Curator in Residence
Data Curation Network (DCN)
The Data Curation Network
is a membership organization of institutional and non-profit data repositories whose vision is to advance open research by making data more ethical, reusable, and understandable. When necessary, we send datasets to the DCN for curation.
Other members of the DCN include:
Cornell University – Cornell eCommons
Dryad Digital Repository – Dryad
Duke University – Duke Research Data Repository
Johns Hopkins University – Johns Hopkins Data Archive
Michael J. Fox Foundation – Data Exploration Network
New York University – NYU Faculty Digital Archive
Penn State University – Penn State ScholarSphere
Princeton University – DataSpace at Princeton University
University of Illinois – Illinois Data Bank
University of Colorado Boulder – CU Scholar
University of Michigan – Michigan Deep Blue Data
University of Minnesota – Data Repository for U of M (DRUM)
University of Nebraska Lincoln – UNL Data Repository
