Discovering Trustworthy Data Repositories with re3data – the Registry of Research Data Repositories

The global registry for research data repositories - re3data - lists over 2700 digital repositories across all scientific disciplines (as of December 2021). The service provides an extensive description of repositories based on a detailed metadata schema, the updated version of which was recently published [1]. It promotes open science practices and the visibility of science-driven open infrastructures. A variety of funders, publishers, and scientific organizations around the world refer to re3data within their guidelines and policies, recommending it as a trusted service to researchers looking for appropriate repositories for storage and discovery of research data [2,3]. The re3data web interface and API enable end users and third-party providers to discover the largest index of research data repositories in the world.

In January 2020, the project "re3data COREF" (Community Driven Open Reference for Research Data Repositories) [4] started, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) for three years, with the goal to further develop and improve the registry. The presentation introduces the re3data service and gives an overview of the ongoing project work, including a short introduction to the recently published “Conceptual Model for User Stories” [5], which is intended to help the project team recalibrate re3data according to current and future needs of the community.

[1] Strecker, D. et al. (2021) ‘Metadata Schema for the Description of Research Data Repositories: Version 3.1’. https://doi.org/10.48440/re3.010

[2] Kindling, M. et al. (2017) ‘The Landscape of Research Data Repositories in 2015: a Re3data Analysis’, D-Lib Magazine, 23(3/4). https://doi.org/10.1045/march2017-kindling

[3] Witt, M. et al. (2019) ‘Connecting Researchers to Data Repositories in the Earth, Space, and Environmental Sciences’, in Manghi, P., Candela, L., and Silvello, G. (eds) Digital Libraries: Supporting Open Science. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 86–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11226-4_7

[4] https://coref.project.re3data.org/project

[5] Vierkant, P. et al. (2021): re3data Conceptual Model for User Stories’. https://doi.org/10.48440/re3.012