Virginia Tech Data Repository: Curation Review Actions Taken

After a Virginia Tech Depositor submits a dataset for publication, a Virginia Tech Data Repository Curator will review the dataset to 

1. Confirm that it meets our minimal requirements for metadata/documentation (shown here under ‘Documenting your Data’), and

2. Provide recommendations to improve the dataset in the spirit of the FAIR principles (FAIR standing for Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability).

While the specific recommendations for improving a submitted dataset vary greatly, the Curator will typically focus on the following aspects. Note that this is not an exhaustive list of curatorial actions or recommendations.

The Curator will generally

1. Check that the set of files associated with the dataset corresponds to the set of files described in the dataset metadata. If they do not correspond the Curator will ask the Depositor to resolve this discrepancy.

2. Ask for further information that will allow the dataset to be linked to other relevant research artifacts, e.g. peer-reviewed publications the dataset supports, technical manuals describing a computational model, additional dataset authors, funding awards to be acknowledged.

3. Ask for further information that will improve the reusability of the dataset, e.g. column header descriptions for CSV or spreadsheet files, more elaboration on the dataset description and/or its associated files, more descriptive filenames, licensing and documentation for research software.

The Curator will tend to focus on low-ask, high-impact recommendations for the Depositor, being mindful of the time and effort of the Depositor.

The Curator may employ the Data Curation Network CURATE(D) workflow in the dataset review, or request that another curation expert from the Data Curation Network review the dataset if that expert has particular experience with the submitted data formats or content.

Last modified 15 May 2025