Figshare User Guide : Home

FigShare is a repository that allows you to make your research output shareable, citable, and discoverable. Figshare is a web-based interface designed for academic research data management and research data dissemination. 

Things to consider before conducting your research

Data Management Plans (DMPs) are increasingly becoming a part of Research Data Management Policies within institutions and requested in grant application by funders. Depending on the research field, some of the things you'll need to include are ethics, consent, how and when you’ll share your data and long term preservation.

If you are unsure as to whether you need to create a DMP before starting a research project check with a research data manager - we’d recommend checking your institutions website and library services for more details. LSUHS DMP Libguide

Even if you are not required to do so, creating a DMP or planning just some of its components can still be useful. For more information please visit https://dmponline.dcc.ac.uk/. Another tool for DMPs is DMPTool; their funder templates helpful for complying with funder mandates around data management.

Ethical obligations

It is important to check that you have the right to publish your data openly. For more information see:

• Why you should seek consent
• Anonymisation
• GDPR

Copyright

Useful questions to consider:

• Have you established who owns the copyright in your data? Might there be joint copyright?
• Have you considered what kind of license is appropriate for sharing your data and what, if any, restrictions there might be on re-use?
• If you are purchasing or re-using someone else’s data sources have you considered how that data might be shareable, for example negotiating a new licence with the original supplier?

For more information on licenses, click here.

Suggested Checklist:

• Check consent (see above)
• Check licence
• Credit the authors of any data reused in your dataset, according to the original license
• Ensure that any and all sensitive or private information (eg. human-subjects, rare and endangered species) has been anonymised / de-identified (or separated and uploaded as metadata-only / confidential)
• Ensure that any data pending commercial processes is only published in accordance with the contract or agreement with a commercial partner (eg. an embargo may be necessary, or you may be required to publish commercial data confidentially)