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International Conference on Social Science Methodology 22nd –25th September 2025, Naples, Italy Unlocking Research Potential: The Role of Data Repositories in Supporting Researchers and Data Stewards MSc. Irena Vipavc Brvar
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Open Science is transforming research through transparency, accessibility & reusability. Funders (e.g. European Commission, Horizon Europe) mandate open access to publications and underlying data, software & workflows as well as preparing and publishing Data Management Plans. Research outputs must follow FAIR principles: Findable –Accessible –Interoperable –Reusable. Repositories should be trusted and certified. Open Science: A Global Shift FAIR compliant data sharing
Research data VIR: Springer nature
NATIONAL POLICIES
RFO + RPO = funders
Slovenian legislation containing open science provisions that research performing organizations, researchers and support services need to comply with: -The Scientific Research and Innovation Activities Act (adopted in 2021) with open science provisions in Art. 40-42 (i.e., open access to research results, processing of personal data for research purposes, responsible research assessment, citizen science, open access national scientific journals and monographs). 2025 amendment of the act introduce Secondary Publication Right, i.e., deposit of the Author Accepted Manuscript into the repository and immediate open access via the repository. -Public Information Access Act (adopted in 2003, lastly amended in 2023) with provisions in Art. 6. č on open access to publicly funded research data to enable their re-use. Case of Slovenia: National legislation
Decree on the Implementation of Scientific Research Work in Accordance with the Principles of Open Science (adopted in 2023) with provisions on –requirements and implementation of open access to publications, –to FAIR research data and other research results in digital form, –on managing copyright in accordance with the principles of open science, –involvement of the interested public in scientific research, –eligible costs of scientific research work in accordance with the principles of open science, –change of research assessment, –and national ecosystem of open science. Rules on Conditions for Providing Library Public Service (adopted in 2023) specifying in Art. 45(3) that academic libraries need to ensure open access to final works of studies and publications of employees of a higher education institution. Case of Slovenia: National legislation
Outdated practices persist despite awareness of Open Science. Key issues: –Data published without proper legal/ethical basis (consent). –Insufficient documentation. –Poor or missing metadata → limits reuse. Challenges
https://nrrp.odprtaznanost.si/ Open science terminology dictionary
FAIR Data Principles Image licensed CC-BY-SA / Source: GO FAIR infographic via ANDS
Persistent Identifiers Example: The ADP description in Re3Data.org states that ADP uses DOI. ●A persistent identifier (PID) uniquely and permanently identifies a digital object ●Examples of PIDs (from re3data.org): ○DOI, URN, ARK, HDL, PURL ●! Without a PID: ○No guarantee the URL will remain valid ○Materials are likely to become inaccessible Source: Bezjak, S., & Vipavc Brvar, I. (2025, August 29). Publishing and Finding Research Data –From Archiving to Reuse. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17147933
•Repositories usually specify the metadata standard in theirguidelines •You can contact the repository for more information DDI is Well Recognized in Social Sciences 📊Designed for social science research data: captures survey, questionnaire, and observational data 🔗Supports interoperability: widely adopted across institutions and repositories 📝Standardized documentation: ensures clarity, consistency, and reusability of datasets 🌍Facilitates data sharing and secondary analysis: helps researchers understand and reuse data reliably ADP uses: ●DDI metadata standard ●Controlled vocabularies (link) Metadata Standards Source: Bezjak, S., & Vipavc Brvar, I. (2025, August 29). Publishing and Finding Research Data – From Archiving to Reuse. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17147933
Indexed Data Repositories
●Check what access restrictions the repository offers: → Access Options for Sensitive Data ○Secure connection ○Secure room ○Limited user groups ●ADP offers the following types of access: ○🔓Access without registration ○📝Access after registration ○🔒Access under special conditions: ■Scientific Use File (SUF) ■Secure Use File (SCUF) Access Categories https://www.adp.fdv.uni-lj.si/en/access-types/ Source: Bezjak, S., & Vipavc Brvar, I. (2025, August 29). Publishing and Finding Research Data – From Archiving to Reuse. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17147933
Controlled Vocabularies https://vocabularies.cessda.eu/ 📚Controlled vocabulary (CV): a set of standardized terms for describing a specific field or topic CESSDA Vocabulary Service: Provided by the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA), version 3.4.0 (2025-03-18) Features: 🔍Discover, browse, and download CVs in multiple languages 💾Available in SKOS, HTML, PDF formats ✏️ Editor for authorized users to create, manage, and translate vocabularies 📊Standards: Many vocabularies created/maintained by the DDI Alliance (Data Documentation Initiative) 🌐Purpose: Facilitates harmonisation of data descriptions (e.g., in CESSDA Data Catalogue) Collaboration: Non-English versions provided by CESSDA members; organisations can contribute new languages or topic classifications The European Language Social Science Thesaurus Source: Bezjak, S., & Vipavc Brvar, I. (2025, August 29). Publishing and Finding Research Data – From Archiving to Reuse. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17147933
Repository Licences Source: Bezjak, S., & Vipavc Brvar, I. (2025, August 29). Publishing and Finding Research Data – From Archiving to Reuse. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17147933
By publishing your data, the repository provides bibliographic information for citation Pay attention to: 📝Title of the data publication 👥Authors of the data publication Example: Badalič, V. (2021). Syrian refugees in Turkey, 2019: Syrian refugees in the informal labor market in Turkey [Data file]. Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana, Slovenian Social Science Data Archives. ADP - IDNo: SB19. https://doi.org/10.17898/ADP_SB19_V1 By publishing your data, the repository provides bibliographic information for citation Pay attention to: 📝Title of the data publication 👥Authors of the data publication Example of citing a data publication in ADP: Badalič, V. (2021). Syrian refugees in Turkey, 2019: Syrian refugees in the informal labor market in Turkey [Data file]. Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana, Slovenian Social Science Data Archives. ADP - IDNo: SB19. https://doi.org/10.17898/ADP_SB19_V1 Data Citation CESSDA Data Management Expert Guide. https://dmeg.cessda.eu/ https://datacitation.cessda.eu/TheAnatomy-of-a-Data-Citation Source: Bezjak, S., & Vipavc Brvar, I. (2025, August 29). Publishing and Finding Research Data – From Archiving to Reuse. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17147933
Repositories are key enablers of FAIR, trustworthy research. DMPs + certified repositories = better data quality & reuse. National initiatives (SPOZNAJ) bridge policy & practice. International infrastructures (CESSDA) ensure cross-border standardisation. Key takeaways
