NGDC provides professional, long-term management of geoscience data of value to the UK. All data deposits are subject to the NGDC terms and conditions of deposit.
We recommended that you review the deposit guidance below before you begin this process.
NGDC digital data deposit application
Digital data
The NGDC Data Deposit Application enables you to deposit digital data with the NGDC online. This provides the method of deposit for:
- UK drillers and contractors depositing borehole data to fulfil statutory obligations under UK legislation
- NERC grant-funded researchers to deposit data in compliance with the NERC data policy
- depositors wishing to generate a data digital object identifier (DOI) for their datasets
- physical samples and specimens
- all other voluntary data deposits
For full information on depositing physical material including core, samples or specimens to NGDC, visit the National Geological Repository (NGR) web pages.
Core sample analysis data
If you have sampled any material from the BGS Core Store within NGR, you are required to deposit all raw data and interpretative reports relating to the sample(s) to BGS. Full guidance for fulfilling this mandatory requirement can be found on our depositing sample analysis data page.
Deposit guidance
When considering your data deposit, it is advised you review your dataset against the NGDC data value checklist to ensure the inclusion of data of long-term scientific value in your deposit.
NGDC also provides good data guidance for organising and naming your data files, as well as a list of preferred data formats for your data deposit, with specific guidance for depositing AGS data formats and model code.
When packaging up your data to deposit it with the NGDC, you should consider the following.
- Your data should be grouped appropriately with a common geographical location or science-specific topic, such as ‘Two site investigations for Smith Street’ or ‘A chemical analysis spreadsheet of limestone’ — this may result in you needing to split the data into several separate donations
- A donation may contain datasets that underpin publications. In these cases, NGDC is interested in holding the data rather than the associated paper(s)
- Only one data-access type (either open or restricted) can be applied to an entire donation. If your donation contains both open and restricted data, you will need to split your data into sections and donate each section separately, otherwise the open portion of your data will not be visible to our open web systems
We can build bespoke portals to deliver your own organisation’s restricted donated data alongside NGDC’s openly available datasets. Please contact NGDC (ngdc@bgs.ac.uk) regarding commissioning such an activity.
FAQs
All data should be deposited through the NGDC Digital Data Deposit Application. This will enable us to capture the necessary contact information, metadata and the terms and conditions of the deposit. Please follow the simple step-by-step process. Guidance is available on the application.
At the ‘Upload files’ page of the application, check the box that states that you are ‘Not uploading any files’ and put how you’ll be delivering/transferring the data in ‘Description of contents’. Our preferred method of data transfer is via a ShareFile link, which can be requested from NGDC.
The NGDC terms and conditions include a liability statement for both depositors and users of our data. In summary, the use of information provided by NGDC is at the user’s own risk, therefore there is no liability to BGS, the data creator or the owner
After submitting your data via the application and receiving your email confirmation, please email your DOI request to NGDC (ngdc@bgs.ac.uk) quoting the BGS submission ID. Guidance on generating data DOIs is given.
We prefer to receive and store digital data through the application. If you wish to deposit hard copy (paper) records that are unique and have no access or use restrictions, please contact NGDC (ngdc@bgs.ac.uk) and provide a description, including the quantity of records. When we have assessed these data against the policies and NGDC data value checklist, we will contact you to let you know whether NGDC can accept them.
BGS is named in several legal statutes and Acts of Parliament that require the deposit of mineral or water borehole records. However, BGS does not have the resource to chase or seek out boreholes that have not been deposited with NGDC.
If you have access to the borehole record you can deposit it via the NGDC Data Deposit Application, or you can remind the organisation of their obligations. For water boreholes, you can also use the NGDC water borehole form to fill out the borehole information and deposit it through the data deposit application.
Data deposited with the NGDC will be made available under the terms of deposit via one or more of our online search facilities:
‘Open’ data will be made freely available to a wide range of users and communities. This is at the user’s own risk, therefore there is no liability to BGS, the data creator or the owner.
The information submitted via the online notification to drill system is held confidentially. When borehole records have been deposited, after drilling, they will be available via the deposited data search and the GeoIndex.