Where can I get Data for my Research?

You don’t always have to start from zero. Depending on your research project, there are a wide range of general and discipline-specific repositories full of existing datasets you are free to use. This could complement data that you’re generating through your project, save you time collecting data, or could form part of your planning to ensure you aren’t replicating a study that has already been done

  • Some things to consider when planning to re-use research data

    Careful consideration is required before re-using data. Ask yourself the following questions: 

    • Is the data relevant for your project? Make sure you understand the context of the data you are planning to re-use by carefully studying the metadata: 

    • How was the data collected? Which instruments were used? 

    • Has the data been modified, weighted, de-identified? 

    • What format is the data in? Is it a format you’re able to work with? Is it compatible with any software you will be using? 

    • Do you know how long the data will be stored and made available? 

    Check if the source is reliable. Was the data produced by a reputable organisation or researcher in the field?  

    Make sure you have permission to re-use the data. Many of the open datasets have a Creative Commons licence, but sometimes you have to get special permission for re-use from the copyright holder. Always check the terms and conditions of any licenses. If you plan on commercialising your research, for example, you should avoid datasets that have non-commercial conditions in their re-use licence. 

    Ensure you cite the dataset appropriately. It's critical to give proper attribution and provide credit to the original creator of the data you’re re-using. If the dataset has a DOI, include it in your citation. Check the ARDC Data and Software citation guide if you are not sure how to cite a dataset. 

    Not all data available for reuse is stored in repositories. Do a general web search to find projects or publications pointing to the data you need. Your colleagues and professional networks might be able to lead you into the right direction as well.

  • Some general repositories

    Research Data Australia helps you find, access, and re-use data for research from over one hundred Australian research organisations, government agencies and cultural institutions. The data itself is not stored there, but Research Data Australia provides descriptions of, and links to, the data.

    Re3data.org is a global registry of research data repositories across different academic disciplines. 

    The R3Data Graphical Browser is a graphical tool for finding data repositories.

    CSIRO Data Access Portal provides access to research data, software and other digital assets published by CSIRO across a range of disciplines. 

    Google Dataset search is a search engine for finding datasets. 

    Figshare is the University's data and digital object repository. Use it to find research outputs from the University of Adelaide and from other universities and research institutes around the world. 

  • Government data

    Data.gov.au is the central source of Australian open government data. Anyone can access the anonymised public data published by federal, state and local government agencies.

    Dataplace is a platform that facilitates researcher requests for access to Australian government data from Commonwealth, state, territory and local government agencies which is not available from data.gov.au, including data accessible under the terms of the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022.

    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is Australia’s national statistical agency, providing trusted official statistics on a wide range of economic, social, population and environmental matters of importance to Australia. 

    Data.SA is the South Australian Government's Open Data Portal.

  • Some examples of discipline-specific repositories

    The TERN Data Discovery Portal delivers open access to Australia's terrestrial ecosystem data.

    The Australian Data Archive (ADA) provides a national service for the collection and preservation of digital research data relating to social, political and economic affairs. Based at the Australian National University, the Archive holds over 6000 datasets from more than 1500 projects and studies from 1838 through until the present day. 

    AODN, Australia's Ocean Data Network, provides open access to Australia's ocean data.

    AAO Data Central (ADC) forms the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) Node of the All-Sky Virtual Observatory (ASVO).

    World Bank Open Data provides free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe, including searchable datasets.  

    Dryad is a curated digital repository, designed to make data underlying scientific publications freely reusable. 

    Science repositories recommended by Nature

  • University of Adelaide data

    Figshare is the University's online digital repository. It allows our research community to store, organize, publish, and share various research outputs and data. This includes figures, datasets, software, code, images, videos, posters, and presentations. Figshare is designed to work alongside the University's open access institutional repository, Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S). 

    OAGR (Online Ancient Genome Repository) is a web platform that makes ancient genomics and microbiome data freely available to other researchers around the world. The data includes bioinformatics pipelines and metabdata in an organised and searchable fashion to enable multidisciplinary access and reuse.

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