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The University does not prescribe the use of specific repositories, and there may be a variety of options open to you. As a general rule we recommend your first choice should be a relevant domain repository where there is one available; alternatively, you can in most cases use the University's Research Data Archive; as a third choice, general-purpose data sharing services may be used.  

Most repositories are free to use. Where there is an archiving charge for a data repository, this can usually be recovered from grant funding.

Domain repositories (specific to discipline or data type)

Data should be deposited in a data repository specific to your research dsicipline or the data type, where one is available. These are community services and provide subject-specialist curation. They include repositories recommended by various funders and publishers. Some have the capacity to accept large volumes of data.

These are some examples of recommended repositories. They are free to use except where otherwise specified.

• Biological data: the hosts repositories for different types of genetic data, imaging data, and general biological study data. There are no size limits.
• Social science/human subject data: the  is the research data repository of the UK's national social science data service, funded by ESRC. It has a broad social science/human subject data scope, including biomedical data, and provides in addition to open data archiving a safeguarded data option, suitable for higher-risk anonymised data. You do not have to be funded by ESRC to use the repository.
• Environmental data: the  includes the CEDA Archive for weather and climate data, the Environmental Information Data Centre, and others. NERC-funded researchers are expected to use these. Reserchers not funded by NERC may deposit data in scope of a data centre's collection policy, but may be charged to do so.
• Archaeological data: the  is a national resource for archaeological data. Deposits are chargeable.
• Neuroimaging data: supports the archiving of a range of neuromaging data, including MRI, PET, MEG and EEG. 

Many publishers recommend discipline-specific repositories, esepcially in the sciences, for example  and . The Wellcome Trust also maintains a .

You can search for data repositories by discipline in  and .

51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Research Data Archive

In the absence of a suitable external service staff and research students can use the University's Research Data Archive. This is free to University members and provides both open data archiving and a restricted dataset option for data containing confidential information which can be shared only on a strictly controlled basis.

The Archive has a 20 GB limit for deposits, but other services with more capacity may be options where needed. If no alternative data repository is available for a high-volume dataset, it is an option for a modest charge to archive it offline with DTS and create a linked metadata record for the dataset in the Research Data Archive, so that it can be cited and access to the data can be requested.    

General-purpose data sharing services

You can also use general-purpose data sharing services, such as (funded by the EC), and (a commercial service that is free to individual users). These will not provide the quality control that a specialist or institutional data repository offers, but they are free, quick and easy to use.

can be used to share datasets up to several TB in scale for a . (The standard service is free to use for deposits up to 20 GB.) accepts deposits of up to 50 GB for free, and up to 200 GB on a one-off basis.