Research Guides: Biology: Data

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Finding Data

There are numerous sources of data in biology and related fields. This page lists a variety of places you can look for different types of data. Finding the type of data you need in the correct file format can be challenging, so please do not hesitate to contact your librarian if you need assistance along the way.

Open Data Repositories

These databases contain datasets on a huge variety of topics. They are a great starting point for your research. If you are having trouble finding the dataset you need from one of these sources, you may have more luck with a more specialized resource from one of the following sections on this page.

Dryad
Dryad provides access to the datasets associated with published research articles. You can search for the title of an article to see if their data is published in Dryad, or you can search for a specific topic or keyword to see which datasets are available in this area.
Figshare
Figshare is a repository containing a wide variety of research outputs, including datasets. After you search, you can limit your results to just datasets by checking the box next to "datasets" in the Item Type section on the left side of the screen.
Mendeley Data
Mendeley Data provides access to over 26 million open access datasets. It searches several data repositories at once, including Dryad and ICPSR.
Harvard Dataverse
Harvard Dataverse contains datasets on a wide variety of topics, including biology and health sciences.
Open Science Framework
Open Science Framework (OSF) is a platform where research can choose to make specific aspects of the research, including datasets, available to the public. Not all OSF projects have datasets attached to them, so it may take some trial and error to find what you need. Search for your topic, click on a project, and then check the files section to see what datasets are available for download.
ICPSR
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) provides access to datasets on a wide range of topics. It is especially useful for topics in the social sciences. While most datasets in ICPSR are free and publicly available, some of them may require you to create an account in order to download them.
re3data.org
The Registry of Research Data Repositories contains a list of data repositories, rather than the datasets themselves. It is a great place to look if you are not sure where to search for the dataset you need.

Ecology Data

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility is a great resource for finding datasets related to biodiversity.
EDI Data Portal
The Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) provides access to ecological and environment datasets from publicly funded research projects.
Ecological Data Wiki
The Ecological Data Wiki is a crowd-sourced repository of datasets in ecology.

Molecular Biology, Microbiology, and Biochemistry Data

National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) contains data on a large number of biotechnology topics. This includes gene and protein sequences, taxonomy, and more.
UniProt
UniProt is a great resource for finding data on protein sequences and functions.
BioCyc
BioCyc contains genomic data for a large number of commonly researched organisms.
Protein Data Bank
The Protein Data Bank contains 3D structure information for DNA, RNA, and proteins.

Government Data

Maryland Open Data Portal
The Maryland state government provides access to a variety of open data sets, organized by topic. Try browsing the Agriculture, Environment, and Health sections to find data relevant to biology.
Baltimore Open Data Portal
Baltimore City provides access to a data sets on a variety of topics.
data.gov
Data.gov provides access to all of the United States government's open datasets.
data.census.gov
The Census Bureau website provides access to demographic information about the United States. Click on Advanced Search to limit your search to a specific region, topic, or year.

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