Uploading & Publishing Data

Who Can Upload Data?

To upload data, a user must belong to a Verified Laboratory on the ODC (i.e., be a Full Access User). All Lab User Roles within the Lab Space (Laboratory Member, Laboratory Manager, Laboratory PI) can upload data. Data cannot be uploaded by Basic Access Users or Community Access Users.

Account Types

Who Can Publish Data?

To publish data (i.e., secure a DOI and move a dataset to the Public Space), a user must belong to a Verified Laboratory on the ODC (i.e., be a Full Access User) and be assigned to the Laboratory Manager or Laboratory PI Lab User Role within the Lab Space.

How Does the Publishing Process Work?

A dataset can be made public by initiating the "Request DOI" function, which triggers the editorial review process; once complete, a dataset can be published to the Public Space. The DOI request action can be completed by those in the Lab Space with the assigned Lab User Roles: Laboratory PI and Laboratory Manager. Once trigged, a notification is sent to the ODC Editorial Team that a DOI has been requested. The Editorial Team coordinates review of the dataset, provides recommendations to ensure the dataset meets required standards, and if approved, provides the DOI citation. Datasets approved for publication and granted a DOI do not automatically move to the Public Space - a "Publish" button appears by the dataset after approval - the "Publish" action must be manually completed to activate the DOI. Similar to sharing data to the Community Space, to ensure data is protected, the Publish action can only be completed by those in the Lab Space with the assigned Lab User Role: Laboratory PI.

Once published, the dataset appears in the list of Public Datasets. Datasets in the Public Space are fully considered accessible to the general public as anyone can find and view the metadata associated with a published dataset without creating a user account; downloading the data package requires the user to have a Basic Access Account (or higher). Datasets are published with an open source license - the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY v4.0) - which allows anyone with a Basic Access Account to use the contents of the dataset, but sets the legal obligation of giving appropriate credit to the authors of the data. Once a dataset is published and in the Public Space, the published dataset can only be removed if the DOI is rescinded, which requires an appeal to the ODC oversight committee.

The ODC encourages users to upload datasets and initiate DOI requests prior to submitting any related manuscript(s) for publication. This ensures that the dataset will be reviewed and ready to publish when a journal asks for data or requires a DOI link to resolve. Datasets that are approved and assigned a DOI but have NOT been published by the Laboratory PI can request a reviewer token, which allows the dataset to be shared (e.g., with reviewers, the journal, or collaborators) without making the dataset public yet - this is especially useful when publications are under embargo.