The reasons for using open research data that are already available:

• you can get an overview of research carried out and the direction of science in your chosen discipline;
• instead of repeating existing research (and generating unnecessary costs), it is possible to build on the results of other researchers;
• searching through research data collected in open repositories brings a chance to find research partners and, consequently, to apply for larger (more advanced and cost-intensive) projects.

The website indexing services for repositories and research data repositories.

Why it is worth sharing your own research data in an open repository:

• research data are most often associated with the publication (they allow to verify presented research results), so their visibility can contribute to increasing the citation of both the publication and the research data themselves;
• thanks to metadata describing the deposited research data, they will be easy to find and link to the author, grant or research unit;
• there is considerable number of repository indexing services (e.g. re3data), which further increases the potential audience;
• a proven repository provides a guarantee of secure long-term data storage;
• depositing data under an appropriate CC licence provides protection against unlawful use;
• research data are made available in the form of a dataset and each dataset gets a DOI number or a number of other identifier;
• an open repository means that data can be accessed at any time, even during seminars, conferences or business meetings;
• it is possible to see how many people have viewed and downloaded the data;
• deposited data can become the starting point for invitations (as experts or partners) to national and international research teams;  
• data may also draw the attention of companies interested in collaborating on further research or implementing the innovations presented;
• revealing data from research that has not been as successful as expected can make it easier for other researchers to take a different approach and thus contribute to the development of the discipline.

The dedicated repository for KUE researchers and PhD students is RODBUK (Cracow Open Research Data Repository). It has been co-created by our university. 

There is an option to address the relevant units at the university to consult on how to share research data appropriately and securely:

» Data Protection Inspector (iod@uek.krakow.pl) – on the subject of sensitive and personal data;
» Center for IT Systems (jobg@uek.krakow.pl) – on the subject of security of data storage;
» Organisation and Legal Department  (kucharst@uek.krakow.pl) – on the subject of licensing and intellectual property rights;
» Open access publishing and research data team at the Main Library of the KUE (otwartanauka@uek.krakow.pl) – on the subject of preparing data for sharing (consulting the Data Management Plan, depositing data in the repository).

The benefits of sharing research data for science and society:

• transparency of the research process leading to increased scientific integrity, credibility and trust in science;
• avoiding double funding of research so that the money saved can be invested in new original research;
• collaboration of researchers from different units can result in new discoveries;
• inequality in access to science is reduced.