Washington University Libraries provide data curation and sharing services to support Washington University researchers and scholars. All faculty, students, staff, and other affiliates are eligible to make use of the Libraries’ data curation and sharing services.
Datasets submitted to the data repository undergo a curation process before being published. This process ensures that the data are functioning, in the appropriate format, and well documented to facilitate long-term FAIRness (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable). The Libraries’ data curation services are also open to WashU affiliates who are depositing data elsewhere, and their data will receive the same curatorial attention as data published in the WashU data repository.
The published dataset receives a digital object identifier (DOI) and descriptive Dublin Core and Data Cite metadata. The repository manages submission, management and dissemination using open protocols. The data will be disseminated in open formats to the greatest extent possible and will be accompanied by robust documentation and a data dictionary to maximize reusability.
The Libraries’ Digital Preservation Policy will apply to all submitted content in the data repository, in accordance with digital preservation guidelines. Data will be submitted to the repository and a second location with regular backups, fixity, and security checks.
Datasets are curated and shared in the Libraries’ data repository for a minimum of 10 years.
Data are digital, and each submission must not exceed 999GB. Larger data files are considered on a case-by-case basis.
The data should be in a final publishable state (i.e., end of project, project milestone).
Data should consist of original and/or unique attributes or content that cannot be easily acquired elsewhere.
Data, portions of data, or accompanying documentation that contain copyrightable materials (e.g. text, images, video, audio) that did not originate with the depositor will be subject to additional curatorial review, and/or may not be accepted into the repository. Data that contain such third-party copyrightable materials may present significant legal issues for deposit and sharing. It is the responsibility of individuals who submit data to confirm that they have the necessary rights or permissions to share any materials they did not themselves generate. Also see the Open Scholarship Submission and Use Policy for WUL repository guidelines.
If an author of a dataset finds that a file in their published dataset contains an error, they must contact the Data Services staff to submit the corrected file. A new version of the entire dataset will be created and a new DOI will be assigned. Data Services will record the connection between the associated datasets and note which is the current version in the discovery metadata.
The University Libraries may withdraw a published dataset from the repository before the current ten-year commitment period ends for a compelling reason. Compelling reasons include, but are not limited to, copyright violations, exposure of sensitive data, and/or otherwise fall outside of the submission criteria detailed above. Datasets may not be withdrawn because the depositor or creator is moving to another institution. Creators have the right to provide additional copies to other institutions under the non-exclusive deposit agreement.
If withdrawal is determined by the Libraries to be necessary, the depositor is notified and data files and/or metadata files associated with a withdrawn dataset are removed from the public view and are no longer available for download. Libraries staff will add a statement of withdrawal to the associated dataset's descriptive metadata. In many cases, withdrawal results in suppression of public access to data files and/or metadata files, even when the entire dataset will be retained within our systems for the sake of provenance. In rarer cases, the Libraries may be compelled to delete all or part of a dataset altogether.
Washington University Research Data and Materials Policy