SMU Research Data Repository (RDR) User Guide

The Projects feature is your pathway to collaboration. Here you may create projects, invite collaborators to your project or join projects created by your collaborators. Members of each project can upload files, add notes or comments. An activity stream keeps track of actions by each user. In addition to private projects, you can also make a project public. 

Individual Projects

• Everyone uses their own storage quota.
• People take their work with them if they leave the project.
• Items appear in the subgroup of the uploader.
• Items are created using the metadata schema of the uploader. 
• Items published by users from outside the organisation don’t have to go through review by SMU.

Group Projects

• Submitters’ quota will not be used, storage allocation comes directly from the institution (100GB/project)
• All work is stored on institutional storage and remains within the project space if people leave.
• Items appear in the subgroup of the project owner.
• Items are created using the metadata schema of the project owner.
• Items published by users from outside the organisation have to go through review

Go to My Data page and select the Projects tab. Click on the + Create a new project button. Add descriptions about your project. You will be asked to choose between Individual and Group for the Project Type. Check out the 'Individual vs. Group Project' heading on this page for more information. 

Invite collaborators to the project by searching on the right-hand side, if they are from SMU or have created individual Figshare accounts before. Add users not currently on Figshare by clicking on the invite new users link.

Users can either be collaborators or viewers. Collaborators can upload files or add comments, while viewers can only view the data. To make the project public, you must first make at least one item public within the project.

Please note that currently the project owner, collaborators, and viewers cannot edit another uploader’s items. Items must be downloaded, edited, and re-uploaded to the project. 

For new items: Select Add new content, complete the form and save the record. Once saved, it will appear in the home page of the project. As a collaborator, you can comment on individual items within the project or on the project as a whole.

If you wish to add an existing item from My data to a Project, you can do this by selecting the item, clicking Actions (located just above) and selecting the desired project destination.

In order to publish a project, it must contain at least one public item.

Click Manage and select Publish Project.

Some more bits of useful information:

• Your notes and comments will always be private, as well as any draft items within the project space.
• There is no concept of versioning within a project, and there is no DOI for the public space.
• You can create an item directly within a project or, if the item has already been created, you can move this item from your My Data space to the project space and vice versa.