Dryad UK

This project helped establish Dryad as a persistent international repository for bioscience research datasets, linked to journal publication of the peer-reviewed articles they underpin. It ran for one year to September 2011, funded by JISC in the Managing Research Data programme.

In the Dryad UK project DCC established a draft framework for evaluating the Dryad data repository. Our partners in DryadUK were British Library, Oxford University, Charles Beagrie, and the NESCent team at University of North Carolina.

The overall aim of the Dryad repository is to publish high-value research datasets that lack natural homes in existing bioinformatics databases. Dryad is a US-led international repository, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). It is being developed by the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center and the University of North Carolina Metadata Research Center, in coordination with a large group of Journals and Societies.

The UK Project created a mirror of the Dryad repository under the aegis of the British Library, and broadened the range of journals submitting datasets to it. The project also developed a sustainability plan to help Dryad become established as an international no-for-profit organisation empowered to ensure long-term preservation and accessibility of its data holdings. Data citation is also promoted and facilitated by Dryad UK, which assigns DOI to datasets and helped develop standards for good practice in data citation. 

The DCC evaluation framework articulates aspects of the Dryad ‘value proposition’ important to current depositors in Dryad, its user community and other Dryad stakeholders. The framework is based on the project’s self-assessment, plus stakeholder workshops, questionnaire-based surveys, desk research, and a citation study.

You can download the Draft Framework here and find further information on the Dryad wiki.

Contact: Kevin Ashley and Angus Whyte led DCC's contribution.