If you would like to submit data to the NF Data Portal, steps to do so are outlined below. Please note that if your project has been funded by one of our partners, you may have additional data sharing obligations outlined in your agreement with the funder.
At the end of this page, you’ll find an video tutorial that covers the initial steps of sharing data (steps 1-4 below). This is the first in a series of three videos on sharing data.
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Please ensure that you have the appropriate permission and authority to share data from this study (such as Institutional Review Board approval, informed consent, etc.). If you need to place conditions for use (access restrictions) on your data, please let us know (and be sure to detail them in your data sharing plan). |
Sharing data involves the following actions, to be completed in order:
1. Become a certified Synapse user
To do this, you must:
Link your ORCID account to your profile (This is optional, but recommended)
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Become a Registered and Certified User: Start by registering on Synapse and completing the certification quiz. Certification is required to upload data.
Registered Users: As a registered user, you can create projects and wikis. Collaboration with other registered users and the formation of Synapse teams are also possible. Additionally, registered users can download publicly available data. Subject to meeting project-specific Conditions for Use, they may access controlled data.
Certified Users: Once certified, you gain full access to Synapse features, enabling you to upload files and tables and create folders.
Certification Process: To become certified, you need to take a short quiz covering the Synapse Commons Data Use Procedure. This quiz ensures your understanding of the rules and policies governing data sharing on Synapse. It consists of 15 questions and typically takes around 15-20 minutes to complete.
Complete a data sharing plan (DSP)
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: The goal of this is to support the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) and allows you to describe the data being shared and how/when they will be released.
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To complete the form, there are two options:
Edit in Google Drive: in the Google Doc, click File > Make a copy, and then save a copy to your own drive. This new copy will be editable—complete the form right in your drive. When you’re done, click File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF DOCUMENT (.pdf).
Edit in Microsoft Word: in the Google Doc, click Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) to download a copy. Complete the form in Word, and then save it to your computer as either a Word or PDF file.
Then, once you have the completed form saved as a file on your computer (either as a Word or PDF file), you’ll upload the completed form as part of the project detail intake form (see next step).
3. Complete the project detail intake form
This is designed to collect the information needed to set up a Synapse project and list it as a study on the NF Data Portal. It’s a short form that will ask you for simple details like the project title and abstract, lead investigators, who should have access to the project, and more.
You must also submit your completed DSP from step 2 along with this form (there will be a place to upload it).
Find the project detail intake form here.
Once we receive your information, we’ll review your submission and follow up.
4. Gain approval and access to your project and share it with your team
If approved, we’ll work with you to create a project in Synapse and deposit your data.
Once your project is created in Synapse, your fileview is where you will view and manage your data. In your Synapse project, click Tables, and find the View type called Project Files and Metadata. When you upload data to your project, individual files will start to be listed here. This is one place that you can use to modify annotations/metadata for each file.
Here’s an example of such a fileview after all of the metadata has been added:
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Your project will be set up by us after we receive your data sharing plan.
Add team members to your project: To share the project with others on your research team, you can create a Team on Synapse. Find more information and instructions to do so here. Once your Team is created, it will appear in your Synapse profile here.
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Once you have created a team, you can add the team to your project from the main project page, giving them access. To do so, go to Project Settings > Project Sharing Settings.
5. Learn how to organize your data
Please readHow to Organize Data to learn how to organize your data.
Upload your data
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: Once your project is created in Synapse and you’ve added some folders to house your data, you’re ready to upload your project’s data. We have a separate page on this site with instructions to do so, which you can find in our How to Upload Data document.
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Annotate your data
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: This involves labeling your files with metadata so users can easily find and filter for the data they need when exploring data on the portal. We have a separate page on this site with more information and instructions on adding annotations, which you can find in our How to Annotate Data document.
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Review your project
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: Once your data are ready for public release, you’ll want to review your project to make sure it’s good to go! Most importantly, make sure you have the appropriate permission and authority to share the data. Additionally, check that your data are properly annotated with metadata and that all associated details are correct.
Once all data is deposited and the embargo period ends, we’ll share your data on the NF Data Portal!
Video Tutorial: Introduction to Sharing Data
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Links mentioned throughout the video:
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Synapse login / create account
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