Items may be deaccessioned from the repository for the following reasons:

• copyright violation
• legal requirements and proven violations
• national security
• falsified research
• confidentiality concerns etc.
• contract termination

  • If a member contract is terminated:

    • The member can opt to deaccession their content by request.
    • TDL allows the member 3 months after termination of the contract to request deaccessioning, and will permit extra time at its discretion. After that period, TDL may keep or deaccession data in the repository at its discretion.

Items may also be deaccessioned from the repository by the depositor. Deaccessioning a dataset or a version of a dataset is a very serious action that should only occur if there is a legal or valid reason for the dataset to no longer be accessible to the public. If you absolutely must deaccession, you can deaccession a version of a dataset or an entire dataset. To deaccession, go to a dataset you’ve already published (or add a new one and publish it), click on Edit Dataset, then Deaccession Dataset. If you have multiple versions of a dataset, you can select here which versions you want to deaccession or choose to deaccession the entire dataset. You must also include a reason as to why this dataset was deaccessioned from a dropdown list of options. There is also a free-text box to add more details as to why this was deaccessioned. If the dataset has moved to a different repository or site you are encouraged to include a URL (preferably persistent) for users to continue to be able to access this dataset in the future.

Important Note: A tombstone landing page with the basic citation metadata will always be accessible to the public if they use the persistent URL (Handle or DOI) provided in the citation for that dataset. Users will not be able to see any of the files or additional metadata that were previously available prior to deaccession.

Should a dataset be removed by either the repository or the depositor, TDL reserves the right to retain its citation metadata record in the repository as trace of the dataset. Additionally, the citation metadata of withdrawn items will be searchable.

References

DISC-UK DataShare Project, “Policy-making for Research Data in Repositories: A Guide,” https://www.coar-repositories.org/files/guide.pdf

Dataverse Project, “User Guide: Dataset + File Management,” http://guides.dataverse.org/en/latest/user/dataset-management.html