Instructions for Depositing Data to the AERA Data Repository

The AERA Open journal, AERA-NSF Dissertation Fellowship, and AERA-NSF Grant Program require authors to deposit data and other study materials in ICPSR’s self-publishing repository.

Depositing data and other study materials with ICPSR’s self-publishing repository allows:

  • secondary researchers to replicate analyses from a published article without having to request additional information from the author.
  • authors to be credited, through citations, for the data that they create as part of their research.

Data deposits should include all data, annotated program code, command files, and documentation that are needed to replicate the findings of the journal article or study. For a discussion of best practice in preparing data for sharing, please refer to ICPSR’s Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving, 6th Edition.

Start deposit

If you are an AERA-NSF Dissertation Grant recipient, contact fellowships@aera.net.

If you are an AERA-NSF Research Grant recipient, contact grantsprogram@aera.net.

  1. Start a new OpenICPSR project
    • Select “American Educational Research Association Data Repository” in the “Select a repository” field.
    • Provide a descriptive project title.
    • Click “Save & Apply” to create a new project.
    • Click “View Project” to navigate to your project workspace.
    • Complete the list of principal investigators and add a descriptive summary of your project.
  2. Upload readme, program, and data files necessary to replicate the results published in your AERA journal article.
    • After clicking the “Upload Files” button, drag and drop your files or choose files through a file selection window.
    • Click “Upload” to transfer files into your OpenICPSR project workspace.
    • Close the “Upload Files” window after the files are uploaded successfully.
  3. Enter study-level metadata including information about the “Scope of Project” and “Methodology.”
  4. Under the “Related Publications” section, add a new entry by clicking “Add citation”
    • Select “Is supplemented by” as type.
    • Select “Manually Enter Citation” (even if you were provided a DOI), and then select “Journal Article” as the publication type.
    • Fill in the title and authors of the submitted article or manuscript (which may differ from the name of the uploaded dataset).
    • Enter the name of the AERA journal you submitted to.
  5. Once you have described your project and have uploaded and described your files, click “Publish Project.”
  6. On the Publish data page, you can review the files you have uploaded and described. If everything is correct, click “Proceed to Publish.”
  7. A terms and conditions page is presented. Follow the remaining instructions by answering questions about disclosure risk and agreeing to the terms of the OpenICPSR deposit agreement to complete the publishing process.
  8. When your project has been published, you will receive a data citation and DOI.
    • Upon publishing, an automated email with your DOI will be sent to the AERA journal’s production editor so that it can be included in the online publication of your article.
    • The project will be made available in the AERA Journal Data Repository.

More detailed instructions with accompanying figures are also available.