Guidance for doctoral candidates completing their studies

Well done! You are about to complete your PhD project at TU Delft. Before you do this and leave TU Delft, you need to publish the research data and code, so that others can reproduce the findings and re-use the research outcomes. In accordance with the TU Delft Research Data Framework Policy, all doctoral candidates who started on, or after 1 January 2019, are required to upload the research data and code to 4TU.Research Data (or another suitable data archive) before their defence ceremony. PhD candidates and their supervisors are advised to consult the Research Data Publishing Checklist before signing Form B.

All doctoral candidates who started before 1 January 2019 are strongly encouraged to publish the data and code. 

What exactly do I need to do?

You need to:

1. Gather and organise the research data (and code) which support the results described in your PhD thesis
2. Check if the data (and code) are suitable for publishing
3. Describe the data (and code)
4. Upload the research data (and code) and the description of the data (and code) to 4TU.Research Data
5. Add the DOI hyperlink into your thesis
6. Submit your thesis for examination

1. Gather and organise research data (and code) which support findings described in your PhD thesis

Gather all research data (and code) which are needed to validate the research findings. Afterwards, organise and name the files in a meaningful way, so that the readers of your theses (and your examiners!) know what is what.

2. Check if the data (and code) are suitable for publishing

Most of the time, research done by doctoral candidates at TU Delft is not confidential and therefore suitable for public sharing.

However, there might be some exceptions. The following types of data (or code) might need access restriction:

• Personal data - any information relating toabout an identified or identifiable natural person. A person is considered identifiable if they can be identified directly or indirectly based on one or more items of personal data,- for example, name and address,  location data, IP addresses, banking data, dates of birth, student ID numbers, MAC addresses 
• Commercially confidential data - data which will be subject to commercialisation, for example, patenting, or other forms of Intellectual Property protection
• Data belonging to third parties - for example, data which you have received from external companies, which are not yours to share

If you handle any confidential data, contact your faculty Data Steward to discuss the next steps. 

3. Describe the data and code

The next step is to describe the data and code in a README file. 4TU.Centre for Research Data has prepared a dedicated guidance document to help you create a README file.

4. Upload the research data (and code) and the description of your data to 4TU.Research Data

Once you have all the data (and code) organised and the README file ready, you can upload your data to 4TU.Research Data. Every PhD candidate at TU Delft can upload up to 1TB of data free of charge per year.

Check out this demo video from 4TU.ResearchData and contact your faculty Data Steward or researchdata@4tu.nl for questions.

5. Add the DOI hyperlinks into your thesis

During uploading the data (and code) into 4TU.ResearchData , a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) link will be assigned to the data (and code) which you can see under “DOI reservation”. Now add the DOI link to a Supplementary Information section or any other relevant section in your thesis. You can adapt the statement below: 

All research data and code supporting the findings described in this thesis are available in 4TU.ResearchData at: [insert the DOI links]. 

6. Submit your thesis for examination

Now your thesis is ready to be sent to the examiners. Good luck!