Making your raw data available to the macromolecular crystallography community

Area of Science:

• Crystallography
• Structural Biology
• Data Science

Background:

• The FAIR data principles advocate for making research data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
• Macromolecular crystallography research generates raw diffraction data, which is crucial for validating structural models.
• Current practices often involve sharing processed data (structure factors) and derived data (coordinates) but not raw diffraction images.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide practical guidelines for depositing raw macromolecular crystallography data.
• To encourage adherence to FAIR data principles within the structural biology community.
• To address potential author concerns regarding the release of raw diffraction data.

Main Methods:

• The study outlines a step-by-step process for data preparation and deposition.
• It details the use of the Zenodo repository for archiving raw diffraction images.
• Instructions cover metadata requirements and best practices for data organization.

Main Results:

• The paper presents a clear workflow for depositing raw diffraction data to Zenodo.
• It demonstrates that depositing raw data is feasible and beneficial for reproducibility.
• The guidelines aim to simplify the process for researchers.

Conclusions:

• Implementing FAIR data principles in macromolecular crystallography requires sharing raw diffraction data.
• Zenodo serves as a suitable platform for archiving and sharing this data.
• Adopting these guidelines will enhance data transparency and accelerate scientific discovery.