After depositing data

Here you can find important aspects to keep in mind after you deposit your data in one of our Data Stations.

Curation by DANS

Once your dataset is submitted to DANS, our Data Processing team reviews the submission according to our data processing manual. Part of the curation process includes the transformation of files into sustainable formats that conform to our file format guidelines. This can, for instance, include transforming text documents into PDF/A and uploading these to (a new version of) your dataset.

Tabular data
A transformation that is done automatically by Dataverse – the software of the Data Stations – is the transformation of tabular data files. During the upload of a tabular data file, such as a SPSS file or another statistical file, the file is transformed into a TAB-delimited file. When a user is allowed to download a tabular data file, they can then choose whether to download the original file or the TAB file. Importantly, the transformation also extracts information about the variables available in the statistical files and – if the file is openly available – the variable name, label and summary statistics are included in the DDI metadata export. This makes it easier to find the dataset and the variables it contains in our Data Station. You will also see that datasets which contain tabular data files have a Universal Numeric Fingerprint (UNF) included in the dataset citation. A UNF is a cryptographic hash or signature that can be used to uniquely identify a versioned dataset.

Once the dataset is accepted, curated and published in the Data Station, you can view your dataset, submit updates, and you can evaluate any access requests to your data in case you deposited files under restricted access. 

Overview of datasets

When you log into the Data Station, you can view your user profile (on the top right of the page). There you will find:

  • A list of your datasets under ‘My data’.
  • A list of all notifications from the system sent by mail under ‘Notifications’.
  • Account information.

Making changes to your dataset after publication

You can modify your dataset’s metadata and access categories as well as change or add files. Modifications will always lead to the creation of a new version of your dataset and any new version needs to be submitted to DANS for publication.

You can modify your dataset in several ways. On the top right of the page of the dataset under ‘Edit Dataset’, you can find options to edit the metadata, terms, and access conditions and to add new files to the dataset. To edit your files you can also use the ‘Edit files’ option next to the list of files, or you can use the ‘File Options’ (the three dots) next to each individual file in your list.  

Changing the metadata
You may want to change the metadata of the dataset, for instance to include a reference to a new publication based on your dataset. You can change the metadata by navigating to the dataset page and then selecting ‘Edit Dataset’ and ‘Metadata’. Alternatively, you can use the ‘Add + Edit Metadata’ button at the Metadata tab of the dataset.

If you want to make changes to the metadata of files, you can select the relevant files and use the ‘Edit Files’ button. You can also use the ‘File Options’ (the three dots) next to that file.  

Changes to the metadata will result in a minor version increment of the dataset (e.g. from version x.0 to version x.1). The new version needs to be submitted to DANS for publication.  

Deleting, replacing or adding files 
If you want to delete one or more files, you can select the relevant files and use the ‘Edit Files’ button. You can also use the ‘File Options’ (the three dots) next to an individual file. 

If you want to replace an existing file, you can use the ‘File Options’ (the three dots) next to that file and select ‘Replace’.  

If you want to add new files, you can use the ‘Upload Files’ button on top of your list of files. 

Please note that if you upload a new file that should be restricted access, or if you upload a new version of a restricted file, the new file will not automatically be set to restricted. For newly uploaded files you need to set the appropriate restrictions again.  

Changes to the files will result in a major version increment (e.g. from version 1.0 to version 2.0). The new version needs to be submitted to DANS for publication.  

Changing the access category
You can change the access category, licence and embargo of a published dataset and its files.  If you want to change the licence or terms, you can go to the ‘Edit Dataset’ section on the top right and then select ‘Terms’, or you can navigate to the ‘Terms’ tab and then select ‘Edit Terms Requirements’.  Changes to a more open licence is always allowed. If you want to change to a more restrictive licence, however, please contact DANS and we will evaluate the situation.

The access category for each file can be changed by using the ‘File Options’ (the three dots) next to each single file in the file list, or through ‘Edit Files’ if you wish to make changes for a selection of files in one go. You can also adjust the Embargo and Retention periods in the same way. As with the licence, changes to a more open category are always allowed but if you want to restrict access to files that were previously open, please contact DANS to discuss the reason for this change.

Changes of the terms, licence and/or access restrictions will result in a major version increment and need to be submitted to DANS for publication.   

In cases where there is a legal reason to remove or limit access to the dataset, it is possible to have your dataset, or a version of your dataset, deaccessioned. If you wish to deaccession (a version of) your dataset, please contact DANS. The DOI will remain active and the landing page will inform users that the dataset was deaccessioned, stating the reason given for deaccessioning.

Submit a new version to DANS
After making any changes to your dataset, you will need to submit the new version to DANS via the ‘Submit for Review’ button. A DANS data manager will then review the changes before publishing the new version of your dataset. Only then will the new version be publicly visible in the Data Station. As stated above, any edits will create a new version of the dataset. The DOI of the dataset will remain the same, but the version number is listed as part of the citation of the dataset at the top of the page. 

The tab ‘Versions’ will show all dataset versions with detailed information on the version differences. Note that earlier versions will remain accessible to other users. If there is a need to make an earlier version inaccessible, please contact DANS. We may then proceed to deaccession the earlier version (see above).

Evaluating access requests to your dataset

If your dataset contains one or more ‘restricted’ file(s) in combination with the possibility to allow for an ‘Access Request’, you will receive an email and notification from the system as soon as someone asks permission to download the file(s).

The email and the notification contain the requestor’s email address. The message also contains a link to the Data Station where you can grant or reject the request for access to the data. You can also view all requests to your dataset by navigating to the page of the dataset and then selecting “Edit Dataset” > “Permissions” > ”File”. 

When evaluating a request you can choose one of two actions:

  • Grant access: Use this button if you want to grant the requestor access to your data.
  • Reject access: Use this button if you refuse to give access to your data.

Note that you can select which files you want to grant or deny access to. You can also select all files to grant or deny access to the entire dataset with one action. After being granted access to a given file, a user will have access to all versions of that file. 

If you grant access, the chosen licence automatically applies. For restricted access datasets, this should always be the DANS Licence. 

When you receive an access request, please evaluate it as soon as possible. It is important that you use a stable email address for your account in the DANS Data Station and that you check it regularly so that access requests are assessed quickly. 

We recommend that you specify your access procedures and evaluation criteria in a Data Access Protocol, for instance using this template. Preferably, the Data Access Protocol is added as an open access file to your dataset, so that everybody can consult the conditions under which you grant access to the data. You can find more information about publishing restricted access in this dedicated manual. 

Citing data

We ask you to cite datasets from the Data Station in accordance with the  Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles. 

It is possible to download the citation information of a dataset directly in Endnote, RIS or BibTeX format. To make dataset citation easier we advice to copy and paste the information from the citation block at the top of the dataset page. Note that the citation displayed in the Data Station may contain a Universal Numeric Fingerprint (UNF) at the end of the citation when a dataset contains tabular data (see above). You can include this UNF number together with the version when you cite the dataset. 

A dataset citation should always consist of the following elements:

  • Author: The name(s) and/or organisation of the creator(s) of the dataset;
  • Year: The year in which the dataset was published;
  • Title: The title of the dataset;
  • PID: The persistent identifier (DOI) of the dataset as a full URL;
  • Publisher: The name of the repository in which the dataset is stored: the DANS Data Station;
  • Version: If applicable, the version number of the dataset.

For example:

P.K. Doorn; L.S. Bommeljé; J.A.C. Vroom; H. van Wijngaarden; Y.B. Bommeljé, 1990, “The Aetolian Studies Project”, https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-xxu-6utq, DANS Data Station Archaeology, V2

If you are interested to learn more about data citation, you can find practical recommendations in this publication guide from CESSDA – the Consortium of Social Science Data Archives. 

Inform us about data reuse

The mission of DANS is to facilitate data reuse and we love to hear where the datasets from our Data Stations are being used. 

If you know of a publication or project that builds upon data from our DANS Data Stations, contact us. We will then try to ensure that related publications and scientific outputs are included in the metadata of the corresponding datasets. For your own datasets, you can also add any related datasets or publications to the metadata yourself by editing the metadata (see above). 

 

© DANS. R.5.3. Version 1.4, August 27, 2025