UCL Research Data Repository

UCL maintains its institutional research data repository so that students and researchers can deposit and preserve research data. It also provides instructions, user guides, and recommendations and best practices to support proper deposit, covering issues such as appropriate use, copyright licensing and data protection, formats, preparing data before publication, descriptive metadata, and linking datasets to the journals where articles based on the data analysis have been published.

The UCL Research Data Repository is led by UCL Library Services, through its Research Data Management team, as an institutional service for archiving and publishing data and other research outputs. It is developed in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Research Computing (ARC) (research data stewards/Research Data Group), which provides technical support and guidance to the research community.

As a result of UCL’s Research Data Policy, the University provides the necessary infrastructure, in the form of a repository, so that students and researchers can deposit and preserve research data.

UCL offers information, instructions, and guidance on how to prepare data both for publication and sharing with the research community, and for long-term preservation.

Its recommendations cover, among other aspects, personal data that datasets may contain, applicable copyright licences and data authorship, as well as file sizes and formats, data organisation, descriptive metadata, and how to link datasets to related publications.

UCL also provides training sessions on these topics and offers research data management support services.

The main beneficiaries are UCL researchers and students, who have an institutional route to deposit, preserve, and increase the visibility of their datasets. Indirectly, the wider research community benefits through improved access, traceability, and reuse of data. Key stakeholders include support services (UCL Library Services/Research Data Management and technical support) due to their role in training, advice, and repository management.

Among the benefits of depositing data in the UCL repository are long-term data preservation and security, as well as curation; web-based access, storage and availability; compliance with funder requirements by enabling data to be made FAIR; support for a wide range of formats; the potential to increase data citations through the assignment of a DOI; discoverability through searching and browsing the repository; clear assignment and display of data licences (including Creative Commons); the option to embargo data when necessary; and the possibility of adding deposited datasets to dedicated workspaces for specific projects.

No explicit challenges, obstacles, or difficulties have been identified in the information provided by UCL.

The initiative is considered successful because it combines a stable institutional repository with guidance and operational support that facilitate the correct deposit of datasets (metadata, licences, data protection, and file preparation).

By integrating persistent identifiers (DOIs), options such as embargoes, and links to related publications, it improves traceability, discoverability, and data reuse, supporting practices aligned with FAIR principles and funder requirements.

In addition, being backed by central services (the library and specialised technical support) strengthens its sustainability and its value as a replicable model for other universities.

• Gestión de datos de investigación en el repositorio de datos de la UCL: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/open-science-research-support/research-data-management/ucl-research-data-repository
• Breve guía del RDR (Research Data Repository) de la UCL: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/sites/library/files/ucl_repository_brief_user_guide_v3.pdf