Data Management: Publishing and Preserving Data

Publication is an important part of sharing your research findings with your colleagues and other interested researchers. Preservation means following procedures to keep data sets for an extended period of time by archiving your data and/or submitting it to a data repository.

Publication and preservation are important facets to consider in data management. However, it is important to remember that publication does not equal preservation. Even if the data from your research is published, it could be lost through time without the proper consideration for preservation and documentation. Thinking about preservation as you frame your research will help you understand how to create sustainable data right from the start. When the necessary steps are taken to preserve your data, it will be more widely available to other researchers. Creating long-term access to your research, whether it will be published or not, will help to increase the impact of your research in your field of study.