Importance of archiving and sharing data

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Currently, primary data collected through research in the social sciences in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia remain mainly in the possession of researchers or research institutions that have conducted the research project for which the data have been collected. These data often remain unavailable to other researchers despite their high value for further analysis. There are no existing or sustainable social science data archives in these countries that can deal with issues of preservation and dissemination of these primary data.

Archiving and sharing data with a specialist data centre:

• ensures safe-keeping of research data in a secure environment,
• encourages scientific enquiry and debate,
• increases the impact and visibility of research,
• promotes and credits the research that created the data,
• reduces the cost of duplicating data collection,
• provides important resources for education and training and strengthens research methods.