Open sharing of research data is increasingly an expected part of scholarly communication. Data repositories help support discovery of your data and satisfy funder and publisher data-sharing mandates. But which repositories are best for your data?

Some domains and data types have well-established repositories such as WormBase (nematodes) or Protein Data Bank. Publishers may require deposition of research data in certain repositories or specify other sharing features that eliminate some repository options (see the new Springer Nature data management policies for examples). For other researchers, there may be many competing choices, some well suited for your data and others imperfect at best.

In considering your repository choices, start with our Find a Repository guide, which describes MIT-sponsored repository options, links to the Registry of Research Data Repositories, and offers a repository comparison template. If you want to dig deeper, the Data Curation Centre (UK) has an extensive checklist for evaluating repositories.

Still need help deciding what repository best fits your data-sharing needs? Contact us, the Data Management Services team, at data-management@mit.edu.