What are the benefits of depositing data with an archive or data centre?
Data archiving has great benefits for data owners, data users and researchers. Depositing data ensures their safe-keeping in the long term, with control maintained by the data centre on behalf of the data owner. This can include informing the owner of applications for use and maintaining registers of users and usage. The ability to demonstrate continued usage of the data after the original research is completed can influence funders to provide further research money. The use of archived data by other researchers may lead to collaborations with the data owner and to co-authorship of publications based on re-use of the data. Depositing data allows data owners to avoid the administrative tasks associated with external users and their queries. At the same time the data holders can foster a fruitful dialogue between original and secondary researchers by running user groups and data-use workshops while shielding the original researchers from the more tedious aspects of dissemination. It is a
