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Research Data: Find and cite data

Tips and support for data management for researchers at ÅAU

Reuse of research data

Reuse of research data speeds up the research process and can enable new collaborations. By using ready-made data, researchers can reduce unnecessary use of resources, which is often beneficial also from a research ethical perspective. In addition, it is valuable to reuse data to validate previous research, connect previous results to new issues and integrate and compare data from different studies. Also research funders recommend reuse of research data.

How to find datasets

Reseach data which has been deposited or opened can be found in the repositories where they have been made available. Datasets can also be found in search services which harvest information from several repositories.

  • OpenAIRE: Explore - several millions of datasets, in all fields of science, many of which are open access datasets (harvests from FigShare, Zenodo and many more)
  • Etsin - nearly 6000 Finnish datasets and and descriptions (metadata) of more than 10 000 Finnish datasets from all fields of science. Metadata from, amongst others, the Language Bank of Finland, the Finnish Social Science Data Archive and the Finnish Environmental Institute are harvested into Etsin.
  • Aila - the data catalogue of the Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) includes approximately 2 000 datasets which are openly available or can be downloaded for research purposes or studies (login required)
  • Avoindata.fi - Finnish national portal for open data. Avoindata.fi is a service for publishing and utilizing open data, and contains data mainly from the public sector. The service is maintained by Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

Use search engines to explore and find datasets from various repositories and services:

Data quality: If you want to make sure that the data acquired from a data repository adheres to quality standards, you may check the repository’s policy and guidelines, certification (such as the CoreTrustSeal and ISO/DIN standards), and the use of persistent identifiers such as DOIs. 

Idea: Datasets which have been made openly available can be used in teaching and re-used for course assignments, theses etc.(depending on the licensing)

Give your published datasets more visibility

Publishing (meta)data is an academic merit. Remember to add information about both your publications and published datasets into Åbo Akademi University's research portal AboCRIS. Note that the dataset needs to be published in an external service before adding the information to AboCRIS. Instructions for how to add information about published datasets is available on the intranet (login required).

Data papers are peer-reviewed descriptions of publicly available datasets or databases with significant reuse potential, and include links to the associated research data records in repositories. Data papers are published in dedicated data journals, or as a particular article type in more conventional journals.

How to cite datasets

For example:

Smith, Tom W., Peter V. Marsden, and Michael Hunt (2011). General Social Survey, 1972-2010 Cumulative File. ICPSR31521-v1. Chicago, IL: National Opinion Research Center. Distributed by Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. doi:10.3886/ICPSR31521.v1

​The citation includes the following elements:

Creator (PublicationYear). Title. [Version.] Publisher. [ResourceType.] Identifier.

 

Read more:

DataCites - Cite your data (20.8.2019). https://datacite.org/cite-your-data.html

Finnish Social Science Data Archive - Citing archival data (13.4.2021). https://www.fsd.tuni.fi/en/data/downloading-and-using-data/citing-data/

George Mason University Library info guide (20.8.2019). https://infoguides.gmu.edu/citingdata

GitHub Guides - Making your code citable (13.5.2021). https://guides.github.com/activities/citable-code/

Laine, H (ed.) 2018 Tracing Data - Data Citation Roadmap for Finland. Helsinki, Finland: Finnish Committee for Research Data. URN: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201804106446

Data availability statements

Data availability statements provide information of where to find data supporting the results of a research article. Many journal publishers have a research data policy with template statements that you can use or adapt for your data availability statement. Journals often encourage researchers to share data in public repositories or in supplementary materials of the publication. In the statement, you can link to your data in a repository or refer to the supplementary materials published in the article. Most journals also approve of the option to state that data is available upon reasonable request due to privacy/ethical restrictions. In this case, it is usually the corresponding author who is the primary contact for data requests. Some publishers require that the authors state the reasons why the data are nor publicly available, for example restrictions due to information that could compromise the privacy of research participants or embargo due to commercial restrictions. 

Eurostat microdata

Access to the European microdata collected by Eurostat can be granted for scientific use at Åbo Akademi University. Eurostat has granted research entity status to Åbo Akademi University, and individual researchers at the university can apply for access to the data for their research projects.
Application instructions, conditions and application forms are available on Eurostat’s web pages. You need to mention the following in the application:
•    Research entity identification number: 2025/016/FI
•    Name of the contact person in the research entity: Reko Leino
The contact person’s signature is requested by Eurostat after successful evaluation of your research proposal. Please contact Research Services or the Research Data Team for the approval and signature.
The security requirements for data storage are strict. Downloaded microdata should only be stored on computers maintained by the ÅAU ICT Services. Please contact the ICT Services (helpdesk@abo.fi) when preparing your application. You are recommended to email a data management plan to researchdata@abo.fi for comments.