Data Archiving Options and Costs at ICPSR

Steps to include a budget for ICPSR curation services
Data submission requirements

ICPSR provides no-cost data archiving for most individual research projects and there is typically no required fee for standard archiving and curation services. However, some funders may ask that you include a data management/archiving budget line in your grant proposal, or you may wish to make your data “open access” (freely available beyond ICPSR’s membership). Here’s how to accomplish both with ICPSR’s three different services:

No-Cost Archiving (Most Researchers)

For standard deposits where you want your data available to ICPSR members and the research community, you do not need to budget for an ICPSR archiving fee. Data curation, dissemination, and long-term preservation costs are covered by ICPSR.

Sample budget language:

“Data resulting from this research will be archived at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at no cost, ensuring long-term ethical sharing and preservation in a trusted, FAIR-compliant data repository.”

Designating Open Access (Fee-Based)

If you need your data to be open access—so anyone can download and reuse it at no cost, regardless of membership or affiliation—ICPSR charges a fee for this enhanced service. Open access ensures no user pays to access your data for a period of five years.

Current Open Access Fee Structure*:

  • $15,000 base fee (covers up to five datasets)
  • $500 per additional dataset after the first five (up to a maximum of $5,500 per collection)

*ICPSR reserves the right to adjust the cost for open access.

Sample budget language:

“To ensure public open access, we will deposit research data at ICPSR and pay the open access fee ($15,000 for up to five datasets, plus $500 per additional dataset, up to $5,500 extra), covering five years of free access for all users.”

Paid Professional Curation (As Needed)

If you wish to budget for ICPSR’s professional curation, particularly if you have special data needs (such as very large or complex studies), ICPSR can provide a custom cost estimate for this service. To discuss this option and get an estimate, email icpsr-help@umich.edu.

Sample budget language:

“Funds are requested for professional data curation and archiving at ICPSR, per the provided cost estimate. This ensures data are fully prepared, documented, preserved, and responsibly shared.”

All options for archiving data at ICPSR — whether no cost, open access, or paid professional curation — are subject to ICPSR’s agreement to accept the data for archiving. Acceptance is determined according to the ICPSR Collection Development Policy, which ensures that data deposited are appropriate for ICPSR’s mission and meet necessary standards for legal, ethical, and scientific stewardship. Researchers are encouraged to consult ICPSR staff with questions about their specific data and to obtain guidance before making formal plans or budgeting for data archiving.

Please be aware that ICPSR’s costs may change over time.

Contact and More Information

For questions about ICPSR-supported archiving, open access, or budgeting for ICPSR professional curation, email icpsr-help@umich.edu.

Details on ICPSR’s free and paid services, and a sample data management plan, are available at ICPSR Data Management and Sharing.