Figshare, an online digital repository for academic researchers, has launched the next generation of its research data management platform, Figshare for Institutions, developed to address the specific needs of academic institutions to store research data securely. The pioneering platform has piloted at institutions in the UK, Australasia, and mainland Europe, and supports their needs for better storage, preservation, accessibility and publication of the outputs produced by their researchers.
New functionality includes portals that showcase research of an institution or department; ability to group content into collections; data curation and administrative workflows; flexible storage options; increased file upload limits; and enhanced content discoverability through a revamped search, categorisation and metadata.
St. Edward's University (Austin, TX) is the first academic institution in the US to adopt the Figshare platform and will be using it to showcase its digital humanities content.
Through close partnerships with pilot partners including Auckland University, Brunel University, Loughborough University, Melbourne University, Monash University, Salford University, Sheffield University and Stockholm University, Figshare has developed a system that satisfies institutions' needs for better management and control of research outputs while complying with funders' open data mandates. The user-friendly platform integrates into existing workflows, offers institutional single sign on systems and focuses on simplicity, so as not to add to the administrative burden on researchers. The newly created 'collections' functionality allows any openly available Figshare content to be grouped together as one citable unit, giving institutions and researchers a new way to organise and present related material.
One pilot partner, Monash University, Australia, will be using the collections feature to showcase the Music Archive of Monash University (MAMU), a physical and digital collection of musical instruments, scores, field recordings, and diverse other musical materials acquired since the foundation of the University's original Department of Music in 1965.
By providing a sanctioned and secure place to store data, institutions encourage researchers to move away from using generic cloud based storage, USB sticks and other poor data management practices that jeopardize the security and longevity of those data sets. The private project spaces give researchers a tailor-made solution for sharing and collaborating on their active data. The metrics and reporting dashboard offers institutions unprecedented insight into the outputs being produced and the collaborations being undertaken by their researchers. In addition, the data curation workflows give the institution control over what data is made public and to ensure objects are labelled correctly with appropriate metadata.
Figshare for Institutions operates under an annual subscription license and can provide data storage through Amazon Web Services. Alternatively, Figshare interoperates with existing institutional storage and infrastructure or centrally provided storage such as RDSI in Australia or other third party providers including DuraCloud.
