Technical support
TU Dortmund University aims to make research data management as easy as possible for its researchers. The IT and Media Centre (ITMC) provides technical solutions for implementing the concepts and components of research data management, especially for collaborative work, the documentation of research, and the publication of research data. If you need further support, please contact the Research Data Service.
In TU Dortmund University's data repository (TUDOdata), researchers can securely store, archive and publish their research data. Through TUDOdata, the datasets receive a persistent identifier (DOI), the research data is enriched with metadata and published datasets are Open Acess available.
On our FAQ pages you will find frequently asked questions, answers, and instructions on how to use TUDOdata.
In order to collect and structure information in a research project and make it centrally accessible, TU Dortmund University provides the tool Confluence. Confluence follows a wiki structure in which you can jointly edit documents, store related files and make them searchable. Guest accounts can be set up for cooperation partners who do not belong to TU Dortmund University.
Sciebo is a free cloud service for all researchers in NRW. The WWU Münster operates the infrastructure and the Ministry of Culture and Sciences of the State of NRW supports the operation through the Digital University NRW. Each researcher has access to 30 GB of storage space for sharing data and collaboratively creating and filing documents (text, tabular, LaTeX with Overleaf). The service is free for all members of NRW universities. Non-members of NRW universities have the possibility to apply for a guest account. Also, for larger projects you can apply for so-called project boxes with up to 2 TB storage space.
Further information about Sciebo
For collaborations with many participants outside NRW, the service B2DROP is a good choice. B2DROP is a free cloud service for the secure sharing of research data. It is part of the European Open Science Cloud and is not operated by TU Dortmund University. However, you can log in to the service with your TU Dortmund University account.
Further information about B2DROP
Another cloud solution offered on request at TU Dortmund University is ctera. A special feature of ctera is that files and folders are provided with persistent links. If you are interested, please contact the FDM department!
The Research Data Management Organizer (RDMO) is a web tool for the collaborative creation of data management plans. With the help of a questionnaire, it highlights all the important aspects of handling your research data within a research project. As part of a MERCUR.Admin project, the universities of the University-Alliance Ruhr (UA Ruhr) have launched a joint instance of RDMO. The service is available to all members of the UA Ruhr universities as well as external collaboration partners. You can login via ORCID.
Using GitLab, you can jointly develop, version and deploy software. In addition, you can also use the tool for joint project management. Using your TU Dortmund University account, you can use the service without generating new login data. We will gladly explain how to use GitLab for your purpose. GitLab
Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN) allow researchers to document the research process digitally. This means that the research data and its documentation are directly available digitally and can be allocated to each other. A major advantage of ELNs is the ability to easily search for information and thus find it quickly. In addition, information and protocols can be easily shared with colleagues. Due to a predefined documentation structure and the elimination of handwriting, it is easier to reconstruct information even years later compared to the analog counterparts.
- elabFTW is a generic lab notebook, has applications in many disciplines and is not only interesting for chemists! elabFTW is an open source project and offers an open demo instance for testing: demo instance of elabFTW.
elabFTW offers a role and rights management, lab notebook entries can be edited collaboratively and tagged to make them easier to find, and there is a rudimentary inventory management system. - An open electronic laboratory book developed by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is Chemotion. Chemotion is supported by NFDI4Chem; see the following page for more information: Chemotion.
If you are interested in using an electronic lab book, please feel free to contact us and send us an email.
Eldorado is the institutional repository of TU Dortmund University. Here, resources from and for research, teaching and studiying in Dortmund are stored, made accessible and available to the public. Eldorado is an open access repository, which means that all publications are publicly visible. A persistent identifier in the form of a DOI is reserved and assigned to each publication.
Which system for which use case?
To make the decision easier for you, we have collected a few statements from researchers, from which you can deduce which system is suitable for which use case.
I would like to publish my research data.
You can use the TUDOdata data repository for this. In TUDOdata, each dataset is assigned a persistent identifier, a DOI, and published datasets are available Open Access.
The data is the basis of my publications of results and should be stored unalterably.
If you publish the data in TUDOdata , you will receive an unalterable version.
For our project, we are looking for an exchange platform for our files.
Several systems are suitable for this: Sciebo, TUDOdata, Coscine or Gitlab.
The cloud system Sciebo is the only system that offers OnlyOffice, with which documents (text, tables, LaTeX with Overleaf) can be edited directly in the browser. Sciebo is a good choice for working groups or smaller projects. For larger collaborative projects (SFB, TRR, Clusters of Excellence) we recommend using TUDOdata.
All systems use role/rights management so that you can authorize access to your files. You also have the option of organizing the files in all systems. As a cloud solution (desktop integration is optional), Sciebo offers the most convenient solution in this respect. In TUDOdata there is the option of organizing the data records via Dataverses, Coscine offers resources, and Gitlab maps your local storage.
I want to save my files in an additional location.
The classic case of storing research data securely can be realized with all four systems: Sciebo, TUDOdata, Coscine or Gitlab. All systems have role/rights management so that your files are not visible, but you can enable collaborative editing if you wish. All systems allow you to upload/download via the browser.
I would like to save several versions of my files - preferably automatically.
A system-independent solution is to save new versions of a file by manually changing the file name and appending the new version number.
Gitlab can be used for automated versioning so that you can view the version history and track the changes (for text-based files).
Sciebo offers rudimentary versioning for individual files (without folder versioning and deleted files are deleted irrevocably). With TUDOdata there is no versioning for unpublished datasets and Coscine has no versioning mechanism at all.
Services and contact persons
We will be happy to advise you on the selection of the appropriate technical solution for your personal research projects. You can reach us via our central e-mail address; detailed informations can be found on the contact-page.
