Frequently Asked Questions
Our FAQ may help you with a few of your more pressing questions. We’ve broken them down into three categories: General, Account, and Data. If you don’t see the answer to your question here, please contact us at odumarchive@unc.edu.
General
What is UNC Dataverse?
UNC Dataverse is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's data repository. It is available to all UNC-CH faculty, students, and staff, as well as affiliated partners for sharing and preserving research data and data related materials. UNC Dataverse is managed and maintained by The Odum Institute. Users are encouraged to explore the tool using our UNC Demo Dataverse, our tutorials (link), as well as this user guide. If you have further questions, please contact The Odum Institute Data Archive at odumarchive@unc.edu.
What is Dataverse?
Dataverse is an open source web-based platform for sharing, preserving, and finding research data. It was developed by the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University and has been enhanced and adopted by many institutions across the world. For a brief overview of Dataverse's history and features, please view the video below, or visit The Dataverse Project.
Dataverse vs. Dataset
A dataverse is a collection that can hold datasets as well as other dataverse collections. You can think of it as a container as depicted below.
This structure permits users to organize their research in various ways. For examples of how you can organize your data within UNC Dataverse, please see the Dataverse Organization Examples in the UNC Demo Dataverse. Who manages UNC Dataverse?
UNC Dataverse is managed and maintained by The Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Systems development and technical support is provided by the Odum Institute Research Data and Information Systems team. RDIS also offers custom Dataverse deployment and external tool development for integration with the Dataverse platform. External tools can range from metadata exploration and data analysis to data visualization applications and machine learning. To learn more about these services, please contact jonathan_crabtree@unc.edu. Data management planning, archiving, curation, and training is provided by the Odum Institute Data Archive. UNC Dataverse support services are also offered in customizable packages that meet your project needs. Quotes are available upon request. We recommend setting up a brief, free consultation to discuss the needs of your project and your project timeline. To learn more about our services, please see UNC Dataverse Support Services.
Why should I deposit my research data in UNC Dataverse?
Sharing and preserving research data is an important part of the research lifecycle. By depositing your data in a data repository like UNC Dataverse, you are ensuring that your research is accessible and reusable well into the future. Not only is this beneficial for your own research needs, but it permits others to build upon your work to advance scientific inquiry and discovery. The U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy has released various memos (2013, 2022) charging federal funding agencies with developing and honing their data management and sharing policies for all funded research. In order to comply with these policies, researchers must share the outputs of their research with the public in appropriate data repositories. In addition to government mandates, research communities are quickly adopting the FAIR Principles for making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. These principles offer guidance for ensuring that data are properly preserved, described, and shared for future access and reuse. UNC Dataverse is FAIR compliant.
What is the difference between putting my data in UNC Dataverse vs. other cloud storage options such as Dropbox or OneDrive?
While Dropbox and OneDrive may be approved and viable options for storing data during the active phase of your research, they are not long-term preservation and access platforms. Additionally, they do not support FAIR Principles for making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Using an established and trusted data repository like UNC Dataverse to share and archive your data ensures your research outputs and hard work are well described and findable now and into the future. Through UNC Dataverse, users can understand the context and licensing of your data thanks to the machine-readable metadata and customizable terms of use provided by a data repository. UNC Dataverse is built on recognized preservation technology that performs checks and audits on files and is backed up regularly to multiple servers across the country, meaning your data are safe from corruption and loss. The Odum Institute staff are also fully committed to the long-term preservation of research data and have developed policies around data archiving and security best practices and standards.
Account
I am not affiliated with UNC. Can I still use UNC Dataverse to share my data?
The UNC Dataverse user policy has recently been updated to limit data sharing within UNC Dataverse to UNC faculty, students, and staff. However, we recognize that UNC researchers often partner with external collaborators on projects; therefore, external collaborators are permitted to share data within a UNC research project dataverse. If you are not affiliated with UNC and are not an external collaborator, you will not be able to create any new dataverses or share data within UNC Dataverse. We recommend exploring Harvard Dataverse as an open data repository option.
I am an external collaborator/co-PI/partner on a UNC-based research initiative that is using UNC Dataverse to share data. How do I request permission to contribute to a UNC research project dataverse?
The first step is to create a UNC Dataverse account. If your institution uses Shibboleth single sign-on as part of the InCommon Federation as a Research and Scholarship entity, you can simply click Login and select your institution from the dropdown menu. If your institution does not use Shibboleth single sign-on, you will need to request a local account be created. Requests for a local account may be submitted here.
- Select 'UNC Dataverse',
- Then select 'Request a new account',
- Fill in the form
- Submit
I am an Admin for my dataverse and need to add a collaborator as a contributor. How do I grant them permissions within my dataverse?
To grant permissions to a user, navigate to your project dataverse and click Edit.
- Select Permissions from the dropdown menu
- Under Users/Groups, select Assign Roles to Users/Groups
- In the pop-up window, enter the user account name and select it from the drop-down. Please note that users must have a Dataverse account to be given permissions
- In the same pop-up window, select the role you would like to assign to this user. Clicking on the role will provide a description of the types of actions that role may take
- Click Save Changes
If I leave my institution, can I transfer my UNC Dataverse account to my new institutional account?
For account transfers, please contact us using the Support button at the top of UNC Dataverse. Provide your current account email address and username from UNC Dataverse in the body of the message and let us know that you would like to transfer your account to a new institutional login. We will contact you for further information in order to get the transfer completed.
The account verification email is missing the verification link. How do I verify my email address?
This is a known bug. We are unable to resolve this issue at the moment; however, users are still able to use UNC Dataverse fully without limitations even if their email address is not verified.
Data
Are there any fees for depositing my data into UNC Dataverse?
Self-archiving in UNC Dataverse is currently free to all users. If you would like additional support in archiving your research data, the Odum Institute Data Archive offers UNC Dataverse Support Services for all aspects of the archiving process. Contact odumarchive@unc.edu to schedule a free consultation to learn more about these services and obtain a quote.
What kind of data can I deposit?
UNC Dataverse accepts all types of data; however, it offers optimized preservation for certain file types such as Stata, R, SPSS, and some Excel file types. Dataverse processes these optimized preservation file types during ingest and creates a software agnostic tab-delimited version as well as an RData version of the file for long-term access and preservation. Optimized preservation also permits users the ability to explore these file types within the UNC Dataverse interface. All other file types are preserved at the bit-level only. While UNC Dataverse can preserve all file types at the bit-level, it may not be the best data repository option for certain data types. If you are uncertain if UNC Dataverse is the best data repository for your research data, please contact odumarchive@unc.edu to schedule a free consultation.
What are the recommended data file types I should provide?
The file formats used by researchers are often informed by individual research practices and domain-specific standards. However, to avoid risks to long-term data preservation, access, and use that can arise from software obsolescence, the Odum Institute Data Archive recommends that data files be submitted in formats that are widely adopted, non-proprietary, free of external software dependencies, and well-documented. The following file formats are supported with optimized preservation:
| IBM SPSS | .por OR .sav | Versions 7 to 22 |
| Stata | .dta | Versions 4 to 15 |
| R | .RData | Versions 1 to 3 |
| Excel | .xlsx | .xls is not supported |
| Comma-separated values | .csv | Limited support |
| Text | .txt |
| Adobe Portable Document Format | .pdf/ua OR .pdf/a OR .pdf |
Are there file size limits?
UNC Dataverse accepts self-deposit uploads of 2 GB per file. For individual files over 2GB in size, please contact odumarchive@unc.edu for assistance or alternative storage solutions. If your total file size is over 2TB, please contact odumarchive@unc.edu for a quote for additional storage or to learn about alternative storage solutions.
How many files can I upload into UNC Dataverse?
Currently there is no limit for how many files you may upload into UNC Dataverse; however, if your total file size is more than 2TB, please contact odumarchive@unc.edu for a quote for additional storage or to learn about alternative storage solutions.
Can I share sensitive data within the UNC Dataverse?
UNC Dataverse cannot store or share sensitive data containing identifiable information such as protected health information (PHI) or personal identifiable information (PII). We recommend using the Safe Harbor or other approved methods for de-identifying data before depositing into UNC Dataverse. If your data cannot be de-identified, please contact odumarchive@unc.edu for alternative solutions to sharing sensitive data.
Can I control access to my data?
Yes. UNC Dataverse offers access controls to Admin and Curator roles of your Dataset(s). Individual files can be Restricted, and Access Requests can be enabled to permit UNC Dataverse account holders the ability to request access to each file through UNC Dataverse. To learn more about Access Restrictions, please see the Access Controls for Data section (link) of the Getting Started (link) guide.
How long are files stored in UNC Dataverse?
Files are stored in perpetuity. The Odum Institute Data Archive and UNC Dataverse are members of Data-PASS, a community dedicated to the preservation of research data. As such, we have implemented a Digital Preservation Policy which defines our succession plan for continued access to our holdings.
Can I remove my datasets from UNC Dataverse?
UNC Dataverse is an open data repository for sharing and preserving research data. All published data are given a persistent unique identifier (DOI), which directs users to the permanent published dataset record. In most instances, we would not recommend removing data from UNC Dataverse; however, if data are discovered to be too sensitive or in violation of copyright or terms of use, Odum Institute Data Archivists will remove the data from UNC Dataverse. If you have questions about removing your data from UNC Dataverse, please contact odumarchive@unc.edu.