Criteria for repository selection, qualification and certification

More journals and publishers - and funding agencies and institutions - are introducing research data policies. But as the prevalence of these policies increases, there is potential to confuse researchers and support staff with numerous or conflicting policy requirements. The Data policy standardisation and implementation IG has defined 14 features of journal research data policies and arranged these into a set of six standard policy types or tiers, which can be adopted by journals and publishers to promote data sharing in a way that encourages good practice and is appropriate for their audience’s perceived needs. This policy framework has been finalised and published as a preprint, and is beginning to be implemented and adopted by journals and publishers.

The FAIRsharing WG has produced one of the 12 outputs recommended by RDA, and continues to work with our growing community to improve guidance to users and producers of standards and databases to select and describe these resources, or to recommend them in data policies. Working with a number of journal publishers and Datacite, the FAIRsharing WG has defined a common set of criteria for selecting (and recommending) data repositories, with the aim of harmonizing guidance to authors on data deposition.

Convened in 2014, the Certification of Digital Repositories IG aims to deliver a comprehensive and inclusive overview, as well as the necessary recommendations and requirements that enable the effective implementation of certification of digital repositories on national, European, and even global levels. It continues to provide a forum for discussion of repository certification principles and, partially through the creation of Working Groups, to facilitate the development of principles and practices in the area of repository certification.