Data Collection Policy

Glossary

RODBUK Cracow Open Research Data Repository is co-created by six founding members: 

  • AGH University of Krakow,  
  • Cracow University of Technology, 
  • Krakow University of Economics, 
  • Jagiellonian University in Kraków, 
  • University of Physical Culture in Krakow, 
  • University of the National Education Commission, Krakow,

and co-operating members: 

  • Sano – Centre for Computational Personalised Medicine – International Research Foundation, 
  • University of Wrocław,
  • Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences.

A suitable infrastructure that allows data to be added with their descriptions, i.e. metadata, and stored in the long term is crucial for the effective management of the various stages of the data lifecycle (such as preservation, dissemination or reuse, among others). In this respect, RODBUK meets the guidelines of the Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe (OpenAIRE). The repository is registered with re3data and OpenDOAR and indexed in the EOSC EU Node.

Mission

RODBUK is a research data repository dedicated to researchers, doctoral students and students from universities co-creating the project, but is also open to external research entities interested in depositing and sharing their research data.

Our mission is to enable researchers to make a global impact with research data and software by ensuring the accessibility of their published data and software.

Scope

RODBUK provides affiliated universities a place to collect, share, and store research data for long-term access and future use. Repository focus on data from all fields and subjects in science. Datasets are coded in Dublin Core, it includes general metadata as well as detailed metadata about variables, dimensions and units used, in a fully machine readable way.

A dataset is defined here as a group of data files, related to a specific topic and collected for a specific purpose. It may include data, computer models and software code. A dataset consists also of documentation files, such as codebooks, user manuals, workflows, protocols, methodologies, etc., that supports its use or analysis.

Datasets will be published if they contain a mandatory set of metadata and are the result of scientific activity or are linked to a resulting publication or are required by the funder/institution's policy on data sharing and long-term preservation.

Datasets can’t be publish if they consist: 

  • legal and/or ethical issues e.g. infringe any copyright or other intellectual property rights, including but not limited to patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, rights of publicity or other rights of any third party; 
  • data constituting classified information or data protected as a statutory secret, insofar as the use of such data is restricted by law. 

Data formats

Following the guidelines of research funding bodies, research data should be saved in open formats (e.g. OpenDocument, txt, PNG, FLAC, WebM, HTML, CSS) that are widely available and free of charge, except in cases where file conversion from specialised software to open formats could affect data quality. The deposited data should be accompanied by a README file containing all the information necessary for further replication and reproducibility of the shared data. This ensures that the data is indexed and cited, which has a positive impact on dissemination and promotion. RODBUK is compliant with the Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe (OpenAIRE) guidelines.

Licensing

A published dataset is assigned a licence informing users how they can use it. RODBUK has adopted CC0 as the default means for researchers to share their datasets. When depositors want to change licence, they can choose it from a defined list.

Confidentiality and privacy

Sensitive and personal data are accepted and deposited in RODBUK for archiving, when the data has been anonymised so that individuals cannot be identified.

Quality assurance

All documentation on the functioning and managing of the repository is created and verified by experts from the RODBUK Data Management Group (including university lawyers).

Data quality verification is carried out at the data deposition stage and periodically on a sample basis by cross-checking the quality of selected datasets from the respective collections by Data Stewards from the RODBUK Data Management Group.

Along with metadata, users can provide references (links) to external resources (e.g., related publications and related datasets). These references will be controlled during the dataset review process.

Users can report quality problems or misunderstandings of the required standards on an ongoing basis through a contact form available on the website and via email to technical support.

Periodically, quality surveys are performed among randomly selected users.

Fees

Depositing data in RODBUK is free of charge. Costs of data storage in RODBUK are borne by the institution where the Depositor is employed.

Data reuse

Data and metadata are described according to current standards so that they can be reproduced, combined with other data and metadata, indexed and licensed.

The RODBUK Data Management Group encourage researchers to contribute to the data repository by helping them to prepare metadata and providing support for depositing files in the repository.

The aim of the repository is to implement the Open Science policy by creating a publicly accessible platform for depositing research datasets, enabling the:

  • storage of various types of research data; 
  • research data are made available by the FAIR principles; 
  • it meets the requirements set by research funding agencies like the National Science Center and the European Commission; 
  • quick access to information through a user-friendly search interface; 
  • high quality of descriptive metadata; 
  • Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for each dataset that makes it easy to find; 
  • standardized data citation for each dataset that authors can use; 
  • choosing a data usage license agreement (Creative Commons or other); 
  • substantive support from the employees of data stewards.

Responsibilities

RODBUK Data Management Group provides support for describing and depositing research data and it also responsible for their verification in accordance with the Data Collection Policy.

If you have any comments or questions regarding this policy, please contact us at RODBUK.

Update: 24.03.2025