Central preservation of dissertation research data

Research data underlying scientific publications should be retained for 10 years in accordance with the principles of good scientific and artistic/creative practice [German]. This principle also applies to data from dissertation projects.

The University Library offers a central solution for preserving most research data from dissertation projects. The data is either stored in the DaKS research data repository, on an encrypted network drive or at its current storage location, depending on its individual protection requirements. The metadata is published in DaKS.

The central preservation of dissertation research data supports scientific transparency and the quality of research results. The subsequent use of the data, where possible, is simplified by selectable access rights managed by the University Library and the possibility of publishing the data in DaKS.

FAQ

How do I use the service?

Fill out the registration form for your research data. If you have any questions, you can use the form to let us know. Once you have submitted the form, we will get back to you within a few days and explain the next steps.

How do I know how my data may be stored?

Please clarify with your supervisor whether your research data may require special protection. This may be the case, for example, if you work with personal data (e.g. interviews) or are bound by contracts in a cooperation project.

When working with personal data, a register of processing activities must be kept and coordinated with the data protection officer of the University of Kassel.

What data protection regulations do I have to observe?

If your research data contains personal data, it may only be processed with the consent of the data subjects. The preservation of data is also considered data processing. You may therefore only store and/or publish the research data if the persons involved have given their consent. This is usually covered in the declaration of consent that the persons sign before the data is collected.

The Central Data Protection Office of the universities in Baden-Württemberg [German] provides some information on how to draft an effective declaration of consent.

If you are unsure whether your declaration of consent covers the retention of data, please write us a comment in the registration form. We will then contact you and clarify together with the data protection officer how your research data may be preserved.

How does the upload work?

After you have sent us the registration form for your research data, we will contact you and tell you how to submit your data. It will usually be one of the following options:

The "normal case" is that you upload your data as a new submission in DaKS . Uploading to DaKS is possible up to a total size of 40 GB per file.
Data that is to be stored on the network drive is uploaded to the Hessenbox using an upload form. The upload is end-to-end encrypted and secure. From there, library staff download the data again and store it with encryption on the network drive.
Data for which neither of these two options is suitable will not be uploaded. In this case, we ask you to provide some information about your data and the location where the data is stored.

Data protection

The privacy policy of the University of Kassel applies. The legal basis for our data processing is your order to preserve the research data in accordance with the conditions described here and in accordance with the DaKS user agreement [German].

The storage concept was developed by the University Library and the IT Service Center with the involvement of the Data Protection Officer and the IT Security Officer.