AUSSDA's mission is to make social science data accessible and reusable. AUSSDA archives research data (such as representative population surveys) and makes them available in common data formats (such as SPSS, Stata or R) for subsequent reuse.

AUSSDA is a consortium consisting of the universities of Vienna, Graz, Linz and Innsbruck. It represents Austria in the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA ERIC).

The Core Trust Seal (CTS) is an internationally established certification for repositories. With this award, AUSSDA is one of the first archives in Austria to be confirmed as a reliable and sustainable data archive.

Both archiving and obtaining data sets from AUSSDA are free of charge.

Archived data can be searched and downloaded from our repository at data.aussda.at. Each dataset is described in detail with metadata, has a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) - making it findable and citable - as well as a clear licence governing the terms of use. All datasets in the archive thus fulfil the "FAIR" principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), as required by funders (e.g. Horizon 2020, FWF). There is a wide range of ways to use our data: e.g. secondary analysis to answer new research questions, combination of different data sets for longitudinal analyses, use of data sets in teaching, as a data basis for empirical bachelor's, master's or doctoral theses, as replication data for the transparency of published research results.

There are two ways to archive data at AUSSDA. The first option is to cooperate with the AUSSDA team, in which case data is archived after a review by AUSSDA staff. In addition, since 2021, researchers from our partner institutions (Universities of Vienna, Graz, Linz and Innsbruck) have the option of archiving data independently via our new Self-Deposit Service. For both options, a (one-time) contact at info@aussda.at is required.

A common approach to making data available for research while ensuring data protection is to pseudonymise research data. In this process, research-relevant and indirectly identifying information is retained, while non-relevant and identifying information is replaced or removed. Direct or indirect identifiers (such as the name) are replaced with pseudonyms and it is thus no longer possible for outsiders to assign the data to a person.

Anonymisation means that personal data is changed in such a way that the data can no longer be assigned to individuals. Pseudonymisation, on the other hand, means that this assignment is no longer possible without additional information. The prerequisite for this is that this additional information is stored separately and is only accessible to a specific, authorised group of persons, see GDPR (2016), Article 4, Paragraph 5.

Depending on the research and the type of data, there are different legal aspects that need to be considered before archiving. Basically, you need to clarify whether you have the necessary rights to dispose of the data so that it can be archived and published at AUSSDA. The question of who has these rights to research data cannot be answered in a general way - however, the rights often lie with the research institution (as the employer). That is why it is recommended that you consult internal guidelines. An overview of common regulations and hurdles in the area of intellectual property rights (IPR) can be found in the AUSSDA IPR Guideline. In any case, it must be ensured that, if personal data is processed, the data protection of the individuals is guaranteed.

What we mean by that is non-compliance with the terms of use or licensing conditions that apply to datasets and accompanying material. The AUSSDA Terms of Service contain basic provisions that must be complied with when using AUSSDA services. The licence conditions for the respective materials determine the possibilities for using these materials. Both are legally binding provisions that may have consequences in the event of non-compliance. For information on how to deal with non-compliance, see the AUSSDA Non-compliance Policy.

At AUSSDA, open access (OA) datasets are offered with a CC BY licence from Creative Commons. A CC BY licence means that the corresponding data can be used, shared and edited without restriction, provided that the authors are named.

AUSSDA offers different licensing options for data, documentation and metadata. Metadata is given a CC 0 licence, which is the most open option. Data that is published openly is given a CC BY licence. A CC BY licence means that the data can be used, shared and edited as long as the authors are named. We also offer a licence for scientific use (SUF licence). If you need a different Creative Commons licence (e.g. because your dataset is based on data that was licenced under a CC BY SA licence), please contact us at info@aussda.at so that we can find an appropriate solution together.

Scientific Use means that something can only be used for scientific purposes. If data or documentation at AUSSDA is provided with a Scientific Use Licence (SUF), this means that these materials may only be used for purposes such as scientific research or scientific teaching, but not for other purposes (such as for political or media purposes or for education in the school sector). The exact terms of use of this licence can be found here.

In order to access Scientific Use-Files (SUF), registration or login is required.

No, all interested parties fill out the form themselves and get access via the AUSSDA Dataverse, provided the purpose of use is legitimate. The terms of use for these data, which can only be used for scientific purposes, specify that users do not have the right to share data.

Yes, students follow an academic purpose as well and can therefore request access to data. In the access form, the name of the course, the course number and the name and email address of the teacher can be entered. Under project title, please enter the name of the seminar paper and tick the item "Scientific work by students/teachers (especially for seminars/courses, as well as written qualification projects)". This fulfils the academic purpose that entitles access to the data.

Go to the data set that interests you. You must ask for access to each file you need. If you want all the files, you can also mark them all.

Clicking on the "Request Access" button leads to the AUSSDA team receiving information that a user is interested in the data. We will then contact you and clarify which measures are necessary so that we can make the data accessible. In most cases, it is only necessary to fill out a form in which information about the research project and contact details must be provided.

To some of the datasets available in our dataverse access is restricted. In most cases, this involves sensitive data that couldn’t be made freely accessible due to data protection regulations.

The approaches to the easiest way to get the data for your students differ. It depends on whether you meet your students in person or whether you teach in distance learning.

In any case, we ask you as a teacher to approach us - preferably with some time in advance to your course.

If you are a distance learning teacher, we recommend this procedure:

If it is difficult for you as a teacher to collect the signatures of your students because you do not meet them in person, we recommend that each student logs into AUSSDA Dataverse and clicks on the Request Access button for the desired data set. We will then send each student a form that must be filled out, signed and returned to us. The data will then be made available to each user and they can download the data independently.

In case you can meet your students in person, we recommend this procedure:

If you already know exactly which data set you would like to use, contact us (info@aussda.at) or by clicking on the data set (Request Access button) and we will send you a form. If you want to request access for all your students collectively and have the possibility to collect the students' signatures on an attachment to the access form, not every student has to send the General Access Form to us themselves. You will receive the attachment for seminar groups from us (info@aussda.at).

In any case, students must register once in the AUSSDA Dataverse and can then access the respective data set. Without registration, they cannot be found in the system and the data cannot be released to them. The log-in of the seminar participants and the independent download of the data is necessary for all, as the terms of use must be viewed and accepted before accessing the data. In addition, it is also explicitly desired, as students become familiar with AUSSDA in this way and can thus search for and download data from us independently.

Unfortunately, the microcensus data is not suitable for teaching and cannot be released collectively for seminar groups.

Before downloading, please note the licence of the respective dataset. If datasets are provided with a CC BY licence, they can be downloaded without login. Many of our datasets are reserved for scientific use and marked with the addition (SUF) in the title. These data are only available after registration or login. In any case, the terms of service must be observed. Please inform us if you use data from the archive in a publication!

Some of the datasets archived in the Dataverse are only accessible to a limited extent. In this case, clicking on the "Request Access" button will inform the AUSSDA team that a user is interested in the data. We then contact the user and clarify what measures are necessary to make the data accessible. In most cases, it is only necessary to fill out a form in which information about the research project and contact details must be provided.

In our archiving solution Dataverse you will find various data. They can be found in different dataverses (in this case to be understood as categories or collections).

For example, there is a dataverse in which the archived datasets on Covid-19 topics are collected ("COVID-19 Pandemic"), a SSÖ-ISSP dataverse, which includes various datasets on the observation of changes in attitudes and value orientations in the Austrian population ("SSÖ-ISSP") and an AUTNES dataverse, in which various datasets of the Austrian National Election Study can be found ("AUTNES").

In the left filter bar in the dataverse (data.aussda.at) you can select which level within the archive should be displayed: subordinate dataverses, datasets, and/or individual files. You can search for keywords, authors and many other metadata. Learn more in our User Guide.

Tip:

• Search in English.
• Use * to make the search broader.

Embargo means that the metadata is published and the data and documentation are uploaded and published, but they are not accessible. Files under embargo are therefore visible, but can neither be downloaded nor is it possible to click the "access request" button. On the date agreed with the depositors, we make the files accessible under the agreed conditions. From then on, interested users can download them.

There are different possibilities here: The dataset can be freely accessible - without a registration or login (applies to data with CC BY licence). It can be available for download after a registration/login (marked with SUF in the title). Or - and this partly concerns e.g. the data of the microcensus - we have to send you the data after you have described your research project to us. In the latter case, all you have to do is click on the "Request Access" button and we will inform you about how to proceed. In most cases, all you need to do is fill in a form with information about your research project and contact details, and then we can release or send you the data. If you are stuck at any point in the download process, you can contact us at any time.

In the respective codebooks for the microcensuses there is the info on how to get access to further relevant data.

• Under point 6: "Variables not included in the data set - available via STATBOX (Im Datensatz nicht enthaltene Variablen - über STATBOX erhältlich)" in each codebook you find this information:
• Accessing data via STATBOX: Data room MZ microdata
• Please request access if needed at: ake@statistik.gv.at

1. Via email you receive an invitation to enter a data room in the FTAPI Desktop App to download the microdata. Follow the invitation by pressing the red button in this email.
2. Please enter as user with your own mail address and set password.
3. Please install the FTAPI Desktop App and start it.
4. The data in this data room is encrypted. You must set a second password (SecuPass key) to be authorized for downloading the data.
5. The data room is now ready to enter. Select the desired file(s) and download them.
6. If you forgot the password, a link to change the password will be sent to the email address stored in the registration portal.

Availability:

If you are interested in income information, please note that 2021 information will not be made available until the end of 2022 by Statistics Austria (2020 information is currently available). Information on 2022 income will be available at the end of 2023 at Statistics Austria.

We are continuously working on publishing all microcensuses in the Dataverse. If you need an older microcensus data set that cannot be found in the Dataverse, please fill out, sign and send this form to info@aussda.at.

There you can provide precise information on the data you require. We will then check your information and contact Statistik Austria on your behalf to request the release of the data. After a positive check, we will receive the consent and can send you the data via secure file sender.

Non-imputed data (dg4) are available for the years 2014 to 2020, there are none for the years 2004 to 2013. In the dataverse we have only published "dg8" for the years 2004 to 2013, i.e. the imputed data.

A fixed time frame for the archiving process cannot be set across the board. Depending on the data type, scope or sensitivity, the checks are more comprehensive and take more time. Depending on the feedback after the data check, the revision on the part of the data provider can also be more time-consuming. A data check by AUSSDA only begins once the transfer and usage agreement between the data provider and AUSSDA has been concluded and the entire data, metadata and documentation have been submitted. If you have a publication deadline for your data, it is advisable to approach us early and start the process (ideally several months before the planned publication).

Archived data becomes fully citable and can be handled like a scientific publication. Data producers do not need to archive their data themselves and can easily and conveniently work with the data again in five or more years. Published research results can be retraced by colleagues and students. Data archiving and publishing also means compliance with funding guidelines and good scientific practice.

In principle, yes. Of course, it should be clarified beforehand whether we can archive the data according to our standards and inclusion criteria. We ask you to enquire about this before submitting a project proposal. Archiving is free of charge on our part, but resources are also required on the part of the data depositor for processing and archiving, which are then planned into the application in the best case. We will be happy to advise you on your planned projects.

No, archiving data at AUSSDA is primarily for publication purposes, in addition to long-term preservation. Depending on the data type, content and sensitivity, we distinguish between different access options for publication - from completely open (Open Access) to "locked" (Restricted Access with access only upon request and with legitimate interest), there are different variants. For more information, see also the AUSSDA Access Policy.

No, in general it is not possible to delete archived and published data. The purpose of archiving data at AUSSDA is to safeguard research data in the long term. In exceptional cases (e.g. if justified copyright or data protection concerns arise), access to data can be permanently blocked – but the metadata for the dataset remain preserved and visible in any case.

Please send us your files via ACOnet FileSender. If you are not affiliated with an Austrian ACOnet member institution or cannot find your institution in the login list, you can contact us. We can invite you as a guest to send us files.

Embargo means that the metadata is published and the data and documentation are uploaded and published but not (yet) accessible. This means that files under embargo are visible but can neither be viewed nor downloaded. On the agreed date, we make the files accessible under the agreed conditions.

AUSSDA archives data by researchers from all social science disciplines (e.g. political science, sociology, communication science, economics, education, psychology, health sciences, etc.). Researchers or their data must have a connection to Austria. For more information, please see the Data Collection Policy.

We are happy to hear that! There are various AUSSDA services that you can take advantage of. First, there is the ingest service, where we support you with data preparation and archiving. The other option is to use our Self-Deposit Service if you are affiliated with one of our partner institutions (universities of Vienna, Graz, Linz and Innsbruck). This allows you to upload and archive all your data yourself after a short training session. In both cases, please contact us and briefly describe your situation (type of data, institution affiliation, etc.).

The first step is simply to sign the archiving contract we send you and to send us the dataset and basic information about it in the form of metadata. Metadata is information that describes the dataset - please take a look at this list of required metadata. The contract specifies the licence that governs access and use of the data. In addition to a completed metadata sheet, the signed contract and the actual dataset (for example as an SPSS, Stata or Excel file), we need a detailed study description and other additional documents such as a codebook and a questionnaire. A methods report makes your dataset comprehensible to other users, so it should include these points: Research design and objectives, sample of the study, methods of data collection and information on data processing. Additional documents can also be archived, such as a data management plan or project report.

We then take care of transforming the data sets and accompanying materials into various file formats and uploading the data to our archive platform Dataverse. Contact us at info@aussda.at to receive the contract and a list of the information we need!

In the following list, we provide information about which data formats are recommended for submitting data to AUSSDA. This ensures that we can preserve your data and make it accessible for reuse in the future.

You can provide your data in formats listed below, if you have questions concerning conversion or suitability of your data (e.g. if you don’t find data formats you use in the list below), do not hesitate to contact us!

We update this list on a regular basis to account for software changes or disciplinary specific format changes.

It is not possible to upload Excel files to Dataverse. These would have to get compressed (double zipped Excel files work in Dataverse) so that Dataverse does not change them.

It is mandatory that files send to the AUSSDA staff is not read-only because otherwise we cannot curate the files.

If you have used an unauthorised special character in your username (this includes @ ! ~ $ % ^ & ` *), the registration cannot be completed.

It will take a while for your email address to be reactivated. Please wait until the next day to register again.

If the problem persists, contact info@aussda.at.

If you see an error message, contact us at info@aussda.at, please also send us the content of the error message so that we can support you in the best possible way.

Request a password reset. If you do not receive a reset link, you have probably logged in with your institutional login or linked your local account to your institutional login in the past. In this case, we cannot reset your password as the institutional password can only be changed at the institution. So please try logging in under "Login". You can read more on this above under "How do I log in?".

Try searching for the English name of your institution. So do not search for "Universität Graz”, but for "University of Graz". If you still cannot find your institution, please contact info@aussda.at.

When you create an account under "Sign Up", your password must meet the following criteria:

• At least 8 characters (passwords with 20 or more characters are exempt from all other requirements).
• It must contain at least 1 character from 3 of the following types: uppercase, lowercase, numeral, special.

The following EU guidelines provide assistance in choosing a secure password:

• Choose passwords that are as long as possible. The more characters, the better.
• If a random string of characters is impractical, use a passphrase.
• Use different passwords for each website. A password manager can help with this.

There are two ways to log in to our dataverse:

• Log in with your own institutional user data in the menu under "Log In".
• Log in with a local account in the AUSSDA Datverse in the menu under "Sign Up".

Select "Log In" in the menu and select "Connect with your institution". You will be redirected to your normal institutional login window where you can log in with your institutional login details.

If you select "Sign Up" in the menu, you can choose a username and password by providing personal information (name, email address, institution affiliation). Using this username and password, you can create a local account in the AUSSDA Dataverse.

If you have used a local account first, but choose to do an "institutional login" with the same e-mail address, the system will ask you whether you want to connect the two accounts. Once the two accounts are linked, they cannot be disconnected. Should you change from a local account to an institutional one, you will no longer be able to reset your password in Dataverse, but only on your institution's website.

We use the open-source archiving solution Dataverse developed by Harvard.

"Dataverse" as a term has several meanings. It is:

• the name of our archiving software,
• a "folder" in which researchers, projects or journals can make their datasets collectively available,
• a "superordinated" folder that can also contain other dataverses (folders).

When we talk about datasets in dataverses, we mean:

• A dataset can contain metadata, research data, documentation or code for download,
• many datasets can be made available in a dataverse
• at the dataset level, one can get information about files, metadata, terms and versions.

Other self depositors have the same rights as you do in our Self Deposit Dataverse. This means that others can see and edit their drafts in the Self Deposit Dataverse and vice versa. However, changes are clearly traceable and it is not possible to publish other people's entries/datasets. We therefore ask you not to edit other people’s entries.

No, in general it is not possible to delete archived and published data. The purpose of archiving data at AUSSDA is to safeguard research data in the long term. In exceptional cases (e.g. if justified copyright or data protection concerns arise), access to data can be permanently blocked – but the metadata for the dataset remain preserved and visible in any case.

In general, we distinguish between major changes, such as the deletion of a high-risk variable, and non-significant changes, such as cosmetic corrections. For significant changes we recommend to do them immediately, for non-significant ones we collect them and then publish them all together in a new version. This question is also related to the versioning of files:

• If it is a major change (like deleting and adding variables or observations), then we recommend a "major" update. So if your dataset was v1_0, it would then become v2_0.
• If the changes are minor, we refer to them as "minor" updates. We collect non-significant changes (such as cosmetic corrections to labels) to then rename files from a v2_0 to a v2_1, for example.

More information can be found in the AUSSDA User Guide under “Versioning”

Dataverse has its own way of versioning: While you may have only done a minor update of your data and uploaded a data file called "ABC123_da_en_v1_1.dta", Dataverse sees a completely new file and decides that it must be a major update. Therefore, the versions of your data and your Dataverse entry no longer match. However, the versioning is completely transparent and traceable and therefore does not pose a problem.

Data files must be restricted in the Self-Deposit Dataverse, as all data will have a Scientific Use licence. If you have followed the Self-Deposit Manual, you should see a green open lock next to your data in your draft. If you do not see a green lock, please try again after refreshing the page. If you are still unsuccessful, please contact info@aussda.at.

Dataverse automatically converts many formats into the open file format tab-delemited *.tab. As soon as this process, which Dataverse calls "ingest", is complete, however, the original file formats can be downloaded by clicking on the "Download" button.

If you want to prevent the "ingest" of certain files, e.g. if an Excel file should be available as *.xlsx, you can upload it double-zipped (i.e. zip a zip folder again, a single zip folder is unzipped by Dataverse).

You can export directly to PDF/A format from all common writing programmes, such as OpenOffice, LibreOffice, Microsoft Office version 2010 onwards and Adobe InDesign.

If it is not possible to convert PDF files to PDF/A-2u (the format we recommend), try the following steps:

• Open Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, if you have a licence.
• Tools > Protect and standardise > Print production
• In the right window: Preflight > PDF/A-Standard > Convert to PDF/A-2u
• Order of preferred PDF/A standards: 2u>2a>2b>1a>1b (in 1a and higher the whole text is displayable in unicode, in PDF/A-1b not)
• Save as PDF/A in Word
• Save as > File type: PDF > Options > PDF Options: Check checkbox "ISO 19005-1 compatible (PDF/A) > OK
• The file is now saved in PDF/A-1a format.

When opening a PDF/A file, a blue bar appears in the upper part indicating that it is a PDF/A file.

You cannot tell whether a PDF file is in PDF/A format by the file extension. The extension is ".pdf" in any case. By checking - for example with the Preflight function of Adobe Acrobat Professional - you can determine whether the file has been saved as PDF/A.

The format was developed specifically to meet the requirements for long-term archiving of document files and complies with ISO standard 19005. PDF/A files have the following properties:

• Suitability for long-term archiving
• Visual reproducibility
• User friendliness

Dots in file names, just like spaces, can cause problems with the software we use. We therefore always use underscores. You can find more details in the Self Deposit Manual.

A DOI consists of a prefix (for AUSSDA this is 10.11587). The last six digits after the / are called a suffix. The suffix is a six-digit, random, alphanumeric string that we recommend for use in file naming. For more about DOIs at AUSSDA, see this news article.

In the beginning of your time as a self-depositor, we will hear from each other more often. If we find problems with your entry, we will take further steps, which we will inform you about. In the most extreme case, this may result in your data being "deaccessioned". This means that access to the data is blocked and it is no longer available to users. More information can be found in the Self-Deposit Agreement and the Non-Compliance Policy.

As a persistent identifier, the DOI you receive in the Self-Deposit Dataverse does not change once you publish for the first time. Updates, i.e. new versions, in the same dataset also have no effect on your DOI. You should only be careful if you delete an unpublished draft dataset. By doing so, you also delete the DOI reserved for you.

No, once you have published a dataset, it can no longer be deleted. If there are serious problems as to why data or documentation should no longer be available, please contact us. An example for that could be a high risk of identification in survey data.

Please check first whether you are in the correct dataverse: https://data.aussda.at/dataverse/self-deposit

Are you logged in with the correct account that we have activated for you? The rights to the Self Deposit Dataverse are linked to the username you sent us.

If you are in the right dataverse and logged in with the correct user name and still do not see a button, please contact us!

You can find the manual here.

No, at the moment all self-deposit data are available as Scientific Use Files (SUF). Documentation material is available as CC BY by default. If you wish to open your data, a review by AUSSDA must take place in the regular data ingest. Please contact us if you are interested in opening your data.

To become an accredited Self Depositor, the following criteria should apply to you:

• You have data from the quantitative social sciences
• You are conducting research at one of our partner universities
• You have experience with empirical research and social science research data management
• You have completed a data protection training course within the last two years (or are about to do so)

If this is the case, you can contact us for the next steps. Together we will sign a contract, you will receive training and can publish data yourself after that.