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Research Data Management (RDM): Borealis - The Canadian Dataverse Repository

Introduction to Borealis

Since 2012, Scholars Portal has been hosting the Dataverse repository on behalf of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). In 2019, Scholars Portal launched its bilingual interface with the support of the University of Montreal to extend the service to Quebec's universities under an agreement signed between the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI) and the University of Toronto Libraries. A shared vision for a national Dataverse service, inspired by the Dataverse North Working Group, led to the expansion of the offering nationwide through partnerships with other regional consortiums of university libraries, namely the Council of Atlantic University Libraries (CAUL) and the Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL). On June 23, 2022, Scholars Portal's Dataverse became Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository, available at borealisdata.ca.

As a bilingual, multidisciplinary, and secure Canadian research data repository, Borealis provides a platform for the discovery, management, sharing, and preservation of Canadian research data, supporting the research community in a country that aims to comply with the Tri-Agency Research Data Management Policy regarding data deposition and sharing.

By June 2022, the repository already showcased over 8,000 datasets and over 10 million downloads.

The governance of Borealis includes representatives from participating regional consortiums of postsecondary libraries, and the service is made possible with the support of the community and operational funding from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada. The expansion of the service to other research institutions continues this year.

ÉTS has its own instance of Borealis called ÉTS Dataverse.

How to Deposit Data in the ÉTS Dataverse

Once your Borealis account has been created, contact the Library's RDM team by filling out the following form. Once your identity is verified, an administrator will grant you permissions associated with your status (see  Roles and Permissions tab) to deposit, modify, and/or access data in the ÉTS Dataverse.

 

 

Login

Once your access has been activated, you should be automatically redirected to the institutional ÉTS Dataverse during your next login.

Choose the right collection

Inside the ÉTS Dataverse's collection, you will find several sub-collections typically belonging to research laboratories. Since datasets are not deposited at the top level of the ÉTS Dataverse, you will need to select the collection for which you have been granted access.

Create a dataset

Click on + Add Data, then New Dataset.

  • Choose the appropriate license (by default, CC0 will be displayed). For sensitive data requiring restricted access, please refer to the Recommendations for Restricted Access Data Tab.
  • Note that the fields will change if you modify the license. Therefore, complete this step first.

Fill in the metadata fields marked with a red asterisk* (Title, Author, Point of Contact, Description, Subject).

  • It is recommended to fill in the following additional fields to enhance data discoverability:
    • Keywords
    • Related Publications
  • Additional metadata fields will be available once the dataset is saved.

The dataset can be saved without adding data.

Upload data files

At the bottom of the page, click on + Upload Files.

  • Options include Drag and Drop, Select Files, or upload via Dropbox.
  • Each file should have a maximum size of 3 GB. If your files are too large, try creating a ZIP file or contact the RDM team.
  • Describe the files (Title, Description, Keywords, etc.). If we cannot understand your data, we cannot use it!

Save and edit

Click on Save Changes. Don't worry, your data will not be made public right away!

  • When a dataset is published, Dataverse assigns a DOI to it for permanent identification. You can also assign a private URL if you wish to share your data with a journal without publishing the dataset.
  • You can modify your dataset at any time. It is also possible to restrict access to make it available upon request only.

Contact the Library's RDM team for assistance.

Once your dataset is ready for publication, you will need to submit it for review. An administrator will review the draft of your dataset and may make it public or suggest some edits.

If you make changes to a published dataset, it will be saved as a draft. You will need to submit it for review again to update it on the platform.

If you wish to return to draft status, you will need to contact the GDR team to do so.

Make sure you are ready before publishing!

Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse repository, provides an automatic reference for all datasets based on the metadata entered during creation. To use it, you have two options:

  • Copy and paste the reference into the blue box
  • Click on "Cite the dataset" in the blue box, then choose the desired file type (Endnote XML, RIS, BibTeX).

Due to the nature of certain data, it is possible that your dataset (or certain files) need to be restricted on the platform.

To do so, select them, then click on "Edit" and "Restrict".

In the Access Conditions field, it is important to clearly indicate the steps a researcher must follow to request access to the restricted data. This may include URLs leading to forms to be filled out, forms available for download within the dataset, etc.

It is important to note that if your project involves data from human subjects, controlled or sensitive data, you must discuss your project in advance with the Research Ethics Committee and/or the Responsible for Controlled Goods/Technology and National Security to validate the best way to share your research.

Depending on your status at ÉTS, you will be assigned a different role in the platform.

ÉTS students will be assigned the Contributor role, which allows:

  • Uploading and modifying dataset files
  • Adding and modifying metadata
  • Modifying usage conditions
  • Activating a visit registry for a dataset

ÉTS professors will be assigned the Contributor Plus role, which allows:

  • The same actions as the Collaboration role (see the student section above)
  • Managing dataset permissions
  • Submitting a dataset for review, but not publishing it

* It is important to note that with the Collaboration Plus role, you are responsible for assigning roles to your collaborators, and you cannot assign yourself or anyone else the Administration and Curation roles.

References

"How to Deposit Data in the ÉTS Dataverse" is an adaptation by Vanessa Ayotte of the guide Depositing Data in UBC Dataverse @ Scholars Portal by Melissa Cuthill and Eugene Barsky (University of British Columbia), shared under the CC-BY license.

Scholars Portal. (2022). Permissions - Learn @ Scholars Portal. Retrieved from https://learn.scholarsportal.info/all-guides/borealis/permissions/

QQmyers. (2022, July 21). DVUploader, a Command line Bulk Uploader for Dataverse [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://github.com/GlobalDataverseCommunityConsortium/dataverse-uploader/wiki/DVUploader,-a-Command-line-Bulk-Uploader-for-Dataverse#can-i-upload-a-whole-directory-tree