Catch-all Data Repository Introduction

The Catch-all Data Repository is a repository for general scientific data.

Mission

The repository is intended for general scientific data that should be stored into a repository, but for which no better deposition option exists. While the catch-all repository is handled with all the care needed to operate a repository, users are advised to

• prefer using an established topical repository is available for their data in their scientific discipline,
• get familiar with their scientific community standards and customs in their particular field of study.

Specific community repositories will usually provide better findability of the data and have specific metadata models tailored for the needs of particular communities. You can also check the recommendations to choose a repository.

If you are positive that no better choice than the catch-all repository is available for you, then welcome to the catch-all repository. Make sure to get familiar with its basic principles and limitations.

General Information

TL;DR what you need to know:

• the Catch-all Data Repository is operated by CESNET as part of the National Repository Platform project

• users of the national e-infrastructure (i.e. staff and students of public universities, the Academy of Sciences, and other research organisations), as well as their direct collaborators, may deposit data there; registration in the identity management system Perun is necessary for data deposition

• the CCMM metadata model is used as the internal metadata scheme of the repository

• DOI persistent identifiers can be assigned to records

• by default, data in published records is open access; an embargo period may be set, during which the data remain private; once the embargo expires, the data is made available automatically

• published data is publically accessible on the internet (without any user authentication)

• a set of standard Creative Commons licenses and their variants is available in the repository; specific licenses can be assigned by the submitters

• metadata is made publicly available via the web user interface, the OAI-PMH protocol, and API in several standard formats: Dublin Core, DataCite, CCMM_FIXME; it is harvested by the National Metadata Directory (NMA) and other search services; metadata is not considered a work of authorship, therefore its license is CC0 and it is completely free to use

• when using the publisdhed data, kindly follow the specified license

• there are no restriction on file formats, files can be zipped

• file previews are available for common file types (ZIP, PDF, JPG, PNG, CSV, TXT)

• once a record has been published, its data files can no longer be changed; a new version of the record must be created, should changing the data be necessary; the metadata, though, can be corrected at any time

• every record has a canonical DOI registered to represent all its versions, and each individual version has its own unique, persistent DOI; all versions are interlinked in the repository, and the canonical DOI always resolves to the latest version of the record.

• data deletion is handled upon user request by user support

• note that organisations assigning persistent identifiers (e.g. DOIs) require that at least a basic metadata record for a dataset be kept permanently, even if the data themselves is deleted

• due to support of diverse file formats, no automatic format conversion is provided

• binary consistency of data is regularly checked; data is stored in multiple geographic locations, and the repository frontends also run in multiple locations to ensure high availability

• retention period: minimum XX_FIXME years; in case of closure, every effort will be made by the repository operator to move the content to an alternative generic repository

• Catch-all Data Repository is part of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) enviroenment developed in the Czech Republic for long-term research data retention

• user communities are supported

Terms of Service

The repository is operated under the National Repository Platform.

FIXME link to ToS of the infrastructure (under construction).

Contact and User Support

User support for end users of the repository is available through nrp-repo_datarepo@eosc.cz.