What is figshare?

figshare allows researchers to publish their data in a citable, searchable and sharable manner. The data can come in the form of individual figures, datasets or video files and users are encouraged to share their negative data and unpublished results too. All data is persistently stored online under the most liberal Creative Commons licence, waiving copyright where possible. This allows scientists to access and share the information from anywhere in the world with minimal friction.

Scientific publishing as it stands is an inefficient way to do science on a global scale. A lot of time and money is being wasted by groups around the world duplicating research that has already been carried out. We are a data sharing platform where you can add figures that might otherwise go unpublished – complete with the raw data tables. In doing this, other researchers will not duplicate the work, but instead may publish with your previously wasted figure. Thus making research more efficient and releasing hidden, raw data. figshare allows you to share all of your data, negative results and unpublished figures. figshare also allows you to tag your data, making it more searchable and allows you to search all other data.

figshare is the first online repository for storing and sharing all of your prelimonary findings in the form of individual figures, datasets, media or filesets. Post preprint figures on figshare to claim priority and receive feedback on your findings prior to formal publication.

Can I do this?

If your research is publicly funded then you may in fact be obliged to make all of your data available as terms of your grant. You must cite other people who have contributed to figures where necessary.

Why should I do this?

As well as moral and ethical obligations, putting all of your research data on figshare can help promote your research and raise your profile. It as also been reported that ‘sharing detailed research data is associated with increased citation rate‘.

An ever growing list of why researchers should practise open science is listed on Quora here.

The DCC makes the case for research data management here.

Unless we as scientists publish all of our data, we will never achieve access to the sum of all scientific knowledge.

How secure is my research?

figshare is hosted using Amazon Web Services to ensure the highest level of security and stability for your research data.

Amazon S3 stores multiple, redundant copies of your information so you don’t have to worry about ever losing your master copy.

AWS utilizes an end-to-end approach to secure and harden our infrastructure, including physical, operational, and software measures. Amazon S3 provides authentication mechanisms to ensure that data is kept secure from unauthorised access.

The security and persistence of your files on figshare makes it easy to prevent plagiarism of your research data, as all uploads are time-stamped.

How do I upload my research?

Researchers can upload any of their data in less than a minute to make it immediately sharable, citable and easily discoverable.

Can I edit my research after upload?

Yes, figshare supports version control of all publicly available data, and any privately stored data can also be altered or deleted as you wish.

Can I use other people’s research?

Yes, under the terms of the license you can use any research on figshare provided it is appropriately cited.

Some of my research is already on figshare, how did this happen?

In order to make figshare a useful tool for researchers from day 1, we are taking research objects from open access publications in order to seed the database. This adds value to your previously published research by making the individual figures more discoverable, driving more traffic to your publications as well as making all of the figures citable.

What license is my research released under?

All figures, media and multiple file uploads are published under a CC-BY license.
All datasets are published under CC0.

How do I contact FigShare?

You can contact us via twitter @figshare, or email directly at info@figshare.com. We will endeavour to respond to your queries within 24 hours.

How is figshare funded?

figshare is an independent body that receives support from Digital Science. “Digital Science’s relationship with figshare represents the first of its kind in the company’s history: a community- based, open science project that will retain its autonomy whilst receiving support from the division.”

You can read more about this in the press release here.