Mendeley Data

Mendeley Data is a free and secure cloud-based communal repository where you can store your data, ensuring it is easy to share, access and cite, wherever you are. Search more than 20+ million datasets indexed from 1000s of data repositories and collect and share datasets with the research community following the FAIR data principles.

Compare Mendeley Data to other options in the Harvard Biomedical Repository Matrix.

Please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions about the content of this page. Last updated: 2023-11-13

Features & Specifications

Data Size and Format

File Size Limit: 10GB per dataset

Dataset Size Limit: Mendeley Data datasets for personal accounts have a maximum limit of 10 GB per dataset. However, if your Institution subscribes to Mendeley Data you will have the ability to create datasets up to a maximum size of 100GB. The maximum size will depend on the storage agreement that your institution has.

Data Types and Formats Hosted: You can upload files of any format

Data Licensing

Data Attribution and Citation Tools

Mendeley Data reserves a DOI when the dataset is created and mints it when the dataset is published.

Mendeley Data assigns a provisional DOI to draft datasets. The issuing of a permanent DOI for Mendeley Data submitted datasets is carried out by the British Library via DataCite.
After your dataset has been reviewed, you will receive an email to tell you whether it has been accepted and is publicly visible with an active DOI, or it has been flagged for not complying with the requirements for Mendeley Data datasets.

Mendeley Data provides PIDs for individual files and folders within a dataset.

User Access Controls

Each draft dataset has a share link which you can copy to send to collaborators; they’ll be able to access the dataset metadata and files prior to publishing.
When publishing a dataset, a user may choose to defer the date at which the data becomes available (for example, so that it is available at the same time as an associated article).
Administrative access to hosts are controlled through roles and groups permissions, and access is logged and restricted to secure protocols and sources.
Dataset access can be restricted by the owner if needed, and made available only request if needed.

Data Access Tools

Search: You can search for datasets by keyword, within dataset metadata and data files. You can perform an advanced search using field codes to target one or more specific fields and / or boolean operators.

Download: If the dataset owner has decided to allow the download of datasets, this can be done freely and only the download count is tracked.

You can download all the files within the dataset using the “Download All” button in a Published dataset, which will give you the file size before you start the download and create a zip file with the Dataset name and version. You can see the same structure of the dataset including all the subfolders, within the zip file.

Proprietary File Format Access: None

Data Analysis: None

Cost

The communal repository is available free of charge for individual researchers who want to publish relatively small datasets (up to 10GB each).
Access to published datasets is available for free while providing options for the data submitter to delay the availability of data by setting an embargo period.

Other Features

Pros

Clean, user-friendly interface
Preservation supported by DANS to archive published datasets in perpetuity
Supports directory structure
Optimized for downloading all files at once

Cons

No support for identifying human information
Limited features in terms of sharing, bibliography citation export, and research metrics
Moderation step to publish data, causing a delay before your data becomes public
10 GB per dataset