Where to Share

Getting your work out there

Below is a goal-based overview of types of scholarly sharing platforms.

If I want to share...

• Written work or a research poster

  There are quite a few places to share written work publicly.

  • The Dryad Data Platform is a curated resource that makes research data discoverable, freely reusable, and citable. Contents are free to download and re-use under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
  • Zenodo is an international multidisciplinary open repository that accepts digital research artifacts from reports to software.
  • Humanities Commons CORE repository is supported by the Modern Language Association and captures syllabi, course materials and much more.
  • NC State's institutional repository accepts research and scholarship, grey literature, and theses and dissertations from the NC State community.
  • There is an extensive list of repositories organized by discipline available on the Open Access Directory Wiki.
  • That’s a lot of choices! You can narrow it down by considering your goals in the next section.
• A journal article
  • Pre-prints (pre-publication, submitted version of an article) are often shared in pre-print archives, like Arxiv, EngrXiv, PhilArchive, or SocArXiv.
  • Postprints (peer reviewed but unformatted articles) are best shared on your personal webpage or lab page immediately after publication. Consult with the Open Knowledge Center before sharing to review the journal’s policies.
  • Published versions of research articles (formatted and including publisher insignia) are typically not permitted to be shared freely online, unless you have published with an open access journal like PLoS or Ubiquity Press.
  • The libraries have negotiated deals with some publishers to increase open access publishing. Learn more about these publishing agreements. 
• Data and code
  • Sharing your research data via a data repository can support discovery of your data on the web, increase citations and reuse of your data, and help you meet requirements of funding organizations. There are many options available for sharing your data via data repositories. We recommend that researchers explore disciplinary repository options to ensure that they choose a repository that will yield the highest impact for their work. It is important to note that some funders and publishers require the use of certain data repositories. To learn more, see our Data Repositories webpage.
  • General Data repositories are a good choice if there isn't a disciplinary repository option. The NC State University Libraries is an Institutional Member of the Dryad Digital Repository, a platform that makes research data discoverable, freely reusable, and citable. Dryad provides a general-purpose home for a wide diversity of data types. It also integrates with Zenodo, a general use repository hosted at CERN that has been paving the way in software citation and publishing. This means you can deposit your dataset into the Dryad Digital Repository along with associated code, scripts, and software packages, which will be sent directly to Zenodo.
  • For more information on sharing data, check out NC State's guide to sharing data.
• A figure or table
  • Figshare is an open repository for figures, datasets, images, videos, and other media.
  • Zenodo is an international multidisciplinary open repository that accepts many kinds of research artifacts including graphics.
• A teaching or learning resource
  • OER (Open Educational Resources) Commons offers a platform for many kinds of classroom-based resources.
  • Open Textbook Library is a prime location to share fully formed textbooks.
  • Read more about our support for open education.
• Output from research groups or collaborative teams
  • If you want to keep a collection of research material together, the Open Science Framework is a platform for managing the entire research life cycle in one place.
  • Humanities Commons also offers a Group Site feature that is a good option for gathering many materials from one project together.
• Research documentation
  • Read the Docs simplifies technical documentation through automated processes.
  • Github hosts quite a few options for project documentation.

If my goal is...

• Open, public access
  • The Dryad Data Platform is a curated resource that makes research data discoverable, freely reusable, and citable. Contents are free to download and re-use under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license.
  • Zenodo is a multidisciplinary open repository that accepts digital research artifacts from reports to software.
  • NC State’s institutional repository accepts research and scholarship, grey literature, and theses and dissertations from the NC State community.
  • There is an extensive list of repositories organized by discipline available on the Open Access Directory Wiki.
  • Open Science Framework allows for collaboration and sharing on its open platform.
  • Knowledge Commons Works is a good option for scholars in the humanities.
  • The libraries have negotiated open access publishing deals with several academic publishing companies.
• Institutional commitment
  • Submit your previously published research or grey literature (posters, white papers, technical reports) to NC State’s institutional repository.
• Controlled access
  • There are times when research data cannot be openly shared (e.g. ethical, legal, or technical reasons). However, it might be possible make some sensitive personal data available in de-identified or anonymized form or to specific users by defined access criteria and ensuring technical access control. There are also various disciplinary data repositories available with controlled access options.
  • The NIH provides guidance about sharing data from human subjects. The Libraries' Constructing Access Permissions and Data Repositories webpages provide additional information about access permissions and repositories that allow data access restrictions (e.g. ICPSR, for example, is a data repository where you can impose access restrictions for sensitive social science data).
• Journal publishing and community building
  • The most common platform for open access journal publishing is Open Journal Systems. Several NC State journals utilize OJS, including: BioResources, Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies, and Journal of Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management.
  • The Libraries is a member of the Partnership for Open Publishing (POP), a program developed by the University of North Carolina Press to advance open access scholarship across the statewide UNC System. Contact the Open Knowledge Center for advice on best practices for open access journal publishing and management, including author contracts, indexing, licensing options, platform choice, and editorial/technical workflows.
  • PubPub is an open-source, community-led, end-to-end publishing platform for knowledge communities.

Hey, what about ResearchGate?

Websites like ResearchGate, Academia.edu, and other Academic Social Network Sites (ASNS) are useful for establishing a scholarly profile online and connecting with colleagues in your discipline. We recommend:

• Establishing a profile on these platforms
• Posting and sharing your works on academy-owned repositories or sites like Zenodo, BioArxiv, Open Science Framework, or others listed above
• Linking to those works posted elsewhere from your ResearchGate or Academia.edu profile

As data silos and venture-funded commercial products, Academic Social Network Sites may not fully achieve your goals of sharing your research work publicly, and should not be considered reliable hubs for posting work online.