Publishing with Zenodo#

Zenodo is an initiative funded by CERN that allows anyone to share their research outputs and mint a DOI for them. Zenodo is funded for at least the next 20 years and so it offers a good long-term solution, as well as being widely used internationally.

How to publish#

Publishing a dataset is easy and quick as long as the data is reasonably organised and has a detailed provenance.

  • Create a Zenodo account, ORCID can be used to login.

  • Read and follow the Zenodo policy and terms of use.

  • Create a Zenodo record for the dataset, uploading the relevant files. CLEX has prepared a step-by-step guide on how to do this, which also covers the kind of information to include.

Useful tips#

  • A dataset can have several authors, they all should agree to the dataset publication and to list the record on Zenodo. All authors should have made a significant contribution to the data.

  • Make sure the files:

  • Use keywords and controlled vocabularies in the metadata to increase discoverability.

  • If the data has already been published elsewhere, a record on Zenodo can still be added to improve visibility. In such cases, use the existing DOI, do not create a new DOI for the same data. Instead of uploading the actual data files, a Readme file can be uploaded and links to the original records added for data download.

  • Only datasets which are less than 50GB can be published. Exceptions are possible, see the relevant information in the Zenodo’s FAQs

  • It’s easier to zip the files and upload them as one file. An alternative if you have many files is to use the Zenodo API.

  • A community can be chosen if there is one that is relevant to the record. This will improve discoverability. The community administrators will receive a notification and either approve the record or contact the main author if they need extra information. Remember the data can be listed in more than one community.