At this stage [view timeline]

• You will have decided if you will deposit data in Pure or with an external repository. If you do decide to deposit externally check that the external body will provide a DOI for the data.

• Select and review data which supports the publication. Data should be well organised and formatted, if the dataset contains complex data or has been created using proprietary software then a Readme file should be created which describes the characteristics of the data and be uploaded with the data to the Pure record.

• Data must be reviewed to ensure that it is legal to re-distribute. Check the data for any legal, ethical, copyright or IP constraints.  Even if there is good reason to restrict access to the data this should be no barrier to the data being deposited. A public record of the deposit can still be made public even if the data itself is restricted in some way. All rights and permissions should be cleared before any data is uploaded.

• Be familiar with the data upload requirements of Pure. For example Pure does not retain folder structures so files of similar format or content should be saved in an appropriately named folder and compressed into a single zip file and then uploaded. Note that the largest single file size for upload to Pure is 20GB.

• Create a basic dataset record in Pure. Before a DOI can be issued a basic dataset record in Pure must be created and saved, the full record does not need to be completed immediately nor any data uploaded. The minimum requirement for a Pure dataset record is:

  • A title

  • A 'creator' (usually the person creating the record)

  • Add this year's date to 'Date made available'

• Save the record as 'For validation' using the 'Status' drop down menu at the very bottom of the record.

• A 'place-holder' DOI will be issued to you by RDMS staff. The 'place-holder' DOI is an inactive version of, what will be, the final active DOI. However all you need is a copy of the DOI at this stage so that it can be used to create a Data Availabilty Statement for the publication.

• Add the 'place-holder' DOI to a Data Availabilty Statement (either in the Acknowledgements or Data Availability section) in the article manuscript prior to submission. If the data will be openly available then the Data Availability Statement will look like this:

  • "All data underpinning this publication are openly available from the University of Strathclyde KnowledgeBase at [paste University of Strathclyde dataset DOI here]"

• Once you have added the Data Availability Statement to the publication the first main step in making your data FAIR is complete.

• Return to the Pure dataset record and complete the relevant metadata fields and upload the appropriately selected data. Details on completing the dataset record can be found on the RDMS website and the guide "Describing your dataset in Pure" 

• Keep the record at 'entry in progress' until you have heard back from the publisher on the publication's acceptance.