Advantages

Research funders such as the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) now require applicants to outline the measures they will take to ensure that the data generated in their project is preserved in the long term and, if necessary, can be reused. For example, the DFG's Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice (version of September 2019) stipulate that "the research data on which [a publication] is based [...] should generally be accessible and traceable for a period of ten years at the institution where it was created or in repositories across multiple locations" (p. 22).

In a domain-specific research database, HfMT researchers can archive their research data long-term, free of charge and securely. This not only increases your chances of success in acquiring third-party funding, but also avoids the need for local data storage and the associated risks and problems such as data loss, outdated file formats and inadequate documentation. If you also decide to publish your research data via the research database, you make it easier for other researchers to find and retrieve your data and at the same time ensure that your work is more visible. Unique identifiers (e.g. DOI) and permalinks also make it possible to cite your data.