Peer review, the evaluation of scientific work by other researchers, guarantees that the quality of a research project is consistent with academic standards. Reviewers can better understand the processes described in the paper and simultaneously assess the validity of the conclusions by reviewing the available data. Despite not being standard practice, making research data available in the peer reviewing stage also ensures the data is well-documented and fully available once the paper is published. Therefore, DANS Data Stations support the peer review of datasets.
DANS Data Stations facilitate this by providing a preview URL for a draft dataset, allowing reviewers to access a dataset that is not yet published – and thus not yet visible to the outside world. Reviewers can then review the data and see how they are documented and stored to verify the procedures described in the paper.
Open and Blind Peer Review
The Data Stations offer two types of preview URLs, which both allow anyone with the URL to view the dataset. With the ‘General Preview URL’ all metadata is visible, including the name and affiliation of the authors. With the ‘Anonymous Preview URL’ identifying information in the metadata, such as the name of authors, is private, allowing for blind peer review of the dataset. In this way, DANS supports both open and blind peer review processes.
Request through DANS
Depositors who wish to make their data available for review can request a preview URL by contacting DANS. Since this feature is only available for unpublished, draft datasets which have not yet moved through our curation process, our Data Processing Team will assess the draft to ensure they align with our selection policy before providing a preview URL that can be used for review.
Publication and citation of datasets
While the peer review of a draft dataset is a great feature to support the transparency of the review process, it is important to ensure that the dataset is published once the review process is finished. DANS expects datasets which we have made available for peer review, to subsequently be submitted for publication in the DANS repository following our deposit guidelines. Citing the data correctly using the DOI is crucial to ensure the data is properly linked to the publication and is indeed findable for reuse.
By providing depositors with the opportunity to have their data peer reviewed before publishing, DANS supports transparency of research and allows for the evaluation of data quality. If you’re interested in depositing your data in one of our Data Stations, please contact our Data Station Manager(s).
