Scholarly Publishing

Scholarly publishers will often require that authors write a Data Availability Statement detailing where, and under what conditions, readers can access the data on which the research is based.

A growing number of journals are also requiring that research data and other supporting materials are shared openly upon publication. You may be required to share de-identified research data under a specific open licence, such as Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY), or in a particular data repository.

Ensure you check journal or publisher policies prior to submission. For examples of relevant policies, see PLOS’s Data Availability and Materials, Software and Code Sharing policies, BMJ's Data Sharing Policy, Wiley's Data Sharing Policies, and Springer Nature's Research Data Policy.

The following University websites, teams, and programs can provide support and advice around research data management (RDM) and data sharing:

• Digital Stewardship (Research). Based in the Library, the Digital Stewardship team provides support, services, training, advice and examples of good practice in data stewardship, digital preservation, and research data management.
• Managing Data @Melbourne. Developed by the Digital Stewardship team, Managing Data @Melbourne is an online program that guides you through the process of writing a data management plan for your research project.
• Melbourne Data Analytics Platform. MDAP is a team of research data and academic specialists enabling data-intensive and data-informed research across the University. They offer a range of support to University researchers, from quick questions to formal collaborations.
• Research Gateway: Research Data Management. The RDM pages on the Research Gateway bring together resources to help improve research data management skills. (University of Melbourne access only.)
• Open Scholarship: Open Data. The open data page on our Open Scholarship website explores the benefits of making your data open and how this can be achieved in different data repositories.

Melbourne Figshare is the University's institutional repository for data and digital materials. It allows researchers to store, manage, publish, and share research data, non-traditional research outputs (NTROs), and other supplementary research materials.

When uploading data or items to Melbourne Figshare, users can:

• share using a private link (allowing you to share data with editors and reviewers, for example);
• reserve a DOI (often required by journals for open datasets);
• apply an open licence (such as the CC BY licence required by some journals);
• maintain version control, if files need to be updated;
• add the record to Elements, the University's internal research outputs management platform. This allows it to appear on Find an Expert and the Researcher Dashboard.

Content published through Melbourne Figshare becomes discoverable through Google, as well as Google Datasets or Google Scholar (depending on the item type).

Find out more about Melbourne Figshare on the Digital Stewardship website or reach out to the Digital Stewardship team for support.