Institutional Repositories and Research Data Management
What this domain tests
Institutional Repositories and Research Data Management tests repository workflows, metadata, version control, access restrictions and the research data lifecycle. Expect FAIR, data management plans (DMPs), sensitive data and certification.
Core rules
- A repository preserves and exposes outputs with metadata; it is not a backup drive or a personal file store.
- Deposit should capture the accepted manuscript or version of record according to policy, with an embargo end date and a license.
- Good metadata includes creator identifiers, affiliation, funder, license, version and persistent identifier.
- RDM covers planning, collection, documentation, storage, sharing, preservation and reuse. A DMP is a living document, not a one-off grant attachment.
- FAIR means Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable; it does not require openness. Sensitive data can be FAIR through metadata and controlled access.
- CoreTrustSeal is a repository certification; DataCite and Dublin Core are common metadata standards.
Worked example
A study produces a dataset with identifiable health information. The team wants to deposit it openly. Reasoning: open deposit would breach privacy. The compliant route is a metadata record with a clear description, a data availability statement, and controlled access under a data-use agreement. The dataset can still be FAIR if it is discoverable and access conditions are documented; as open as possible, as closed as necessary applies.
Traps
Equating FAIR with open; depositing only a PDF and no metadata; leaving embargoes without end dates; treating a repository as long-term preservation without checking certification; and forgetting that software and workflows are research outputs too.