Important: DO NOT proceed with account and dataset creation in JHRDR if one of the following situations applies to you or your dataset: 

  • Your study includes human participants (including genomic data and biospecimens) or other sensitive information. 
  • Your dataset is larger than 2TB 
  • You do not have a JHED, but your dataset is JHU-related (e.g., you previously worked at JHU, or one of the co-authors is affiliated with JHU). 
  • You are affiliated only with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. 

Contact us first and we will evaluate your situation to determine the next step. We will get back to you within two business days. 

Before creating a new dataset

  1. Please review the Johns Hopkins Research Data Repository Deposit Policy to confirm that you are eligible to deposit and that your materials are in scope for deposit.

  2. If you will be depositing data collected from human participants, DO NOT create a dataset yourself. Contact us directly so we can review your study and help determine the appropriate next step.

  3. Assess and select which data and/or code you will deposit in JHRDR:

    • Share data that people can use to reproduce figures and tables in your publication and validate results.
    • You may want to reorganize your data or rename files to help others understand and reuse your data and code. A common way to organize data is by figure numbers.
    • You may also consider depositing analysis scripts to JHRDR together with data. If you have the code in GitHub, you can deposit a copy of it in JHRDR because we provide a DOI for your code.

Creating a new draft dataset

  1. Open the Metadata Guide in your browser so you can refer to it when entering metadata.

  2. Go to the Johns Hopkins Research Data Repository homepage

  3. Click the “Add Data“ button (You will be led to the Log in page if you haven’t signed in. Follow the instructions to use your JHED to log in.). Note: If you are an alumni seeking to deposit data from a study conducted while at Hopkins, email dataservices@jhu.edu. A Data Management Consultant will contact you about dataset creation.

  4. Enter the required metadata (fields marked with a red asterisk) about your dataset. You’ll need a title for the dataset, the authors or data collectors, a point of contact, a subject, and a description about the data to create a draft and get a DOI for your dataset. You will have the opportunity to add additional metadata later.

  5. Once you’ve entered the required metadata, scroll to the bottom of the form and click “Save.” Note: The system will not autosave your work. You need to press the “Save” button to save all your metadata entries.

Adding additional metadata & submitting metadata for review

  1. Once your draft dataset has been created, you will receive an email from a Data Management Consultant via dataservices@jhu.edu within two business days. This email will contain:

    • Instructions for adding additional metadata

    • Instructions for creating a README file for your dataset

    • Instructions for transferring your files to us. DO NOT upload files directly to the dataset.

  2. Per the instructions in the email, fill in other metadata fields to help others find your data after the draft is created. Please refer to the Metadata Guide for specific instructions. All metadata entries are under the Metadata tab except the data license, which is under the Terms tab.

  3. When you have added all the desired additional metadata and you are satisfied with how your dataset metadata looks, hit “Submit for Review.” At this point, you will be locked from editing your metadata further until you transfer your files to Data Services.

Transferring files to a dataset

  1. DO NOT UPLOAD files directly to the dataset.

  2. You will receive instructions for file transfer from a Data Management Consultant via dataservices@jhu.edu after creating a draft of your dataset.

Finalizing a dataset

  1. Once you hit “Submit for Review” and transfer your files, a Data Management Consultant will review your metadata and files and get back to you within a week. The Consultant may request changes to the files or metadata that improve the findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability of the data and/or code.

  2. Once the files have been approved, the Consultant will upload them to your draft dataset and they will appear under the “Files” tab.

Publishing a dataset

Once any requested changes have been made and the dataset has been approved for publishing by you and the Consultant, the Consultant will publish the record and the dataset will become accessible via the DOI. NOTE: Once a dataset is made public it can no longer be unpublished.

Sharing a published dataset

Every published dataset in the Johns Hopkins Research Data Repository is assigned a DOI (Digital Object Identifier). Use the DOI as the link when sharing and publicizing your dataset. Your full dataset citation is listed in the gray box at the top of your dataset page.

Accessing your published and unpublished datasets

To go back to any of your datasets, after you have logged in to JHRDR with your JHED, click your name in the top-right. Select “My Data”. You will see your published and unpublished datasets. Click a dataset link to view.