DataCite Commons—our discovery system based on the PID graph—can be used to search for research outputs, researcher profiles, and research organizations. This holistic search platform enables you to do research and see connections between different entities. However, what if you have outputs you want to deposit in a repository? How would you know which repository suits your needs best? To help researchers answer these questions, we are excited to announce that the Repository Finder tool (initially developed in the context of the Enabling FAIR Data project) is now included in DataCite Commons as “Repository Search”. This development brings together metadata from re3data and DataCite into a single place.
When researchers publish their research, they often want or need to publish other outputs such as their research data in order to follow best practices and satisfy requirements of their institutions, funding organizations, and publishers. It can be challenging for researchers to select a repository; there are many criteria to consider, and the landscape of repositories is constantly evolving. Repository Search helps researchers with this task and gives guidance on which repositories comply with the FAIR Data principles, making their research Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable. The development of this feature was one of the milestones within the FAIRsFAIR project, which focused on improving visibility of research data repositories by moving the Repository Finder tool functionality into DataCite Commons. Beyond having one single point of entry, the second major goal of this merge was to enrich repository metadata to find new relationships and expose them.
Repository Search functionalities
- Search: Using the Repositories search tab you can search for:
- repositories of DataCite members
- repositories that are registered in the Registry of Research Data Repositories – re3data and allow data uploads (either open or restricted)
- Filter: You can filter the results of your search according to compliance criteria (e.g., FAIRsFAIR Project) , certificates (e.g., CoreTrustSeal), and software of the repository.
- Dashboard: Within DataCite Commons, each repository record shows a dashboard that contains relevant information about the repository as well as metrics about deposits and citations of research outputs in the respective repository.
You can learn more about the functionalities of Repository Search in DataCite Commons on our support pages.
Deprecation of Repository Finder
With the addition of Repository Search to DataCite Commons, an important milestone in the consolidation of services was reached. This means that the Repository Finder tool will be retired in late 2022.
From Search to Deposit
With Repository Search in DataCite Commons, we are helping researchers find the best possible repository for their research data and other research outputs. This new feature expands DataCite Commons to support an important aspect of research data management: research data deposit.
