​Archiving your research files

Note: The research files that this page refers to EXCLUDES the traditional publications such as journal articles, chapters and proceedings. Those should be submitted directly to LUPIN. Read more about how LUPIN integrates with the Research Repository here.

The University is committed to research excellence and integrity. The Open Research Position Statement recognises that:

• Openness improves RESEARCH QUALITY by emphasising rigour and reproducibility as embodied in pre-registration, open methods and open data.
• Openness accelerates RESEARCH IMPACT through prompt publication of accessible and more readily understandable outputs and through engagement with the communities on which our research impacts.
• Openness enhances RESEARCH VISIBILITY by making the whole research lifecycle more transparent and accessible.

Many funders (including the UKRI Research Councils) and publishers expect data with an acknowledged long-term value to be preserved and remain accessible and useable for future research. Data which supports and validates your published research should also be preserved and, where possible, should be openly accessible to other interested researchers. Please familiarise yourself with Loughborough University’s Open Research Policy for Data and Methods.

Files we want to store:

• Research data that funders require to be made available
• Files that support publications directly
• Files that promote your research and future partnerships
• Anonymised "personal" data

Files we do not want to store:

• Files that are already stored elsewhere in another data repository or archive
• Everything you have
• Files that are not about research

If you have to preserve sensitive or confidential data and you do not have secure storage available please contact rdm@lboro.ac.uk. We will be able to work with you to assess what the best solution will be for your circumstances.

a) If your research is funded, check whether your funder has specific requirements regarding what and where your research data should be deposited. Major funders' policies are available on the Digital Curation Centre website.

Support from Loughborough University Library for compliance on various funder Open Research policies is available. Specific details are available.

b) ESRC data can be deposited in the UK Data Service and NERC data can be deposited in one of the NERC data centres. EPSRC has published research data expectations. Other data centres also exist:

• Dryad
• Figshare
• Zenodo

A comprehensive list of data repositories can be found on the Re3data website.

c) Please familiarise yourself with your publisher's policy on making your data available. Some publisher's mandate the deposit of data in a repository or archive. Links to a number of publisher data policies include:

• Elsevier
• Nature
• PLOS
• Springer-Nature
• Wiley
• Taylor and Francis

Before you deposit your files in the reseaarch repository please ensure that your files are understandable to others; you have removed personal identifiers (if applicable); and you have permission to deposit the material.

For example, do you have data sharing agreements in place with any collaborators and/or received permission from relevant copyright holders.

Subject to any contractual arrangements and/or grant conditions that take precedence, deposit your research files in Loughborough's Research Repository where it will be securely preserved and given a citeable DOI. For files that are held elsewhere, add metadata only records.

a) Log into the Research Repository using your University username and password

b) Click on "Create a new item"

c) Complete the metadata fields with as much detail as you can

d) If you know the DOI of the related article please include this in the "Related Materials" field

e) Either upload or drag and drag your files onto the record

f) If your data has to be embargoed please add a reason for the embargo - this will appear on the record. You can embargo either the whole record (i.e. neither the metadata or associated files will be visible) or just the data file(s) (i.e. the metadata will visible but the associated file(s) will be hidden)

g) To send the record (and files) for curation click on "Submit for Review". Research Repository staff will check your deposit and you will receive an email when the record is published

A video tutorial is available at this link.

Numerous learning paths are available on FOSTER, where you can discover more about Open Research, Open Innovation, Open Peer Review, and Responsible Research.