Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Open data repository at DOE

The US Department of Energy has launched the DOE Data Explorer (DDE).  From the site:

Discover the data behind DOE's scientific publications!

Use the DOE Data Explorer (DDE) to find scientific research data - such as computer simulations, numeric data files, figures and plots, interactive maps, multimedia, and scientific images - generated in the course of DOE-sponsored research in various science disciplines. The DOE Data Explorer includes a database of citations prepared by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) based on the information found at data-hosting Web sites. It is intended to be particularly useful to students, the public, and to researchers who are new to a field or looking for experimental or observational data outside their normal field of expertise.

You may browse or search the database, then link to a data collection where it resides. You will often find specialized search interfaces and software toolkits developed by the data owners. These allow you to search deeper into the data files and help you understand, analyze, and use the data within the context of your own research interests.

The publicly available data collections support DOE research results that are well documented in journal articles, conference literature, and technical reports. Key DOE databases of R&D information are searchable through the Science Accelerator. The DOE Data Explorer will include enhanced search capabilities across specialized Web sites as it continues to grow.

Each dataset has two web pages, one a prose description with associated metadata and the other an interface for searching, browsing, and downloading.  For example, see the two pages (1, 2) for the DOE file of Evaluated Nuclear [Reaction] Data.