About

What is Borealis?

Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository, is a bilingual, multi-disciplinary, secure, Canadian research data repository, supported by academic libraries and research institutions across Canada. Borealis supports open discovery, management, sharing, and preservation of Canadian research data.

Borealis is available to researchers who are affiliated with a participating Canadian university or research organization and their collaborators. Borealis is a shared service provided in partnership with Canadian regional academic library consortia, institutions, research organizations, and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, with technical infrastructure hosted by Scholars Portal and the University of Toronto Libraries.

Why use Borealis?

Researchers receive support from local academic libraries and research organizations to facilitate the deposit, publishing, sharing, preservation, and discovery of research data. Read more about our Partners.

The Borealis software is based on the open-source data repository application The Dataverse Project, which is developed by the Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) at Harvard University, with contributors from around the world. Since the launch of the platform in 2012 (formerly Scholars Portal Dataverse), the Borealis team actively participates in RDM software development to support and respond to the needs of Canadian researchers. As a national infrastructure provider, Borealis has been a member of the Global Dataverse Community Consortium since 2021.

The Borealis repository supports the FAIR principles for scientific data management and stewardship by ensuring data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Value-added features to enhance data discovery, access, and use, along with preservation of research data, are outlined below:

  • Bilingual platform in English and French
  • Automatic generation of data citation with DOI
  • Descriptive metadata following disciplinary standards to assist in discovery and reuse
  • Easy to use Creative Commons licence templates or customizable terms of use
  • Support for restricted file access and file embargoes
  • Metrics application to track collection and dataset downloads and other metrics
  • Customizable collection landing pages, with faceted browse and advanced search
  • Dataset and file-level version tracking
  • Data exploration tools such as the Data Explorer and file previewers
  • File format normalization for tabular files (e.g., SPSS, Excel) as preservation-friendly action
  • Preservation support through monthly integrity checks in combination with secure, cloud storage built with partner universities (Ontario Library Research Cloud)
  • APIs for external tool interoperability and integration
  • Flexible permissions to assist with collaboration and sharing

Mission Statement

Our mission is to provide a scalable, secure, reliable, and bilingual Canadian research data repository service in partnership with academic libraries and other research organizations to enhance open sharing, discovery, access, preservation, and reuse of research data.

For institutions and research organizations

Our current participating institutions and research organizations.

Canadian institutions and research organizations can participate in the research data repository service through an agreement with Borealis. Each partner institution or organization is provided with its own collection space for institutional research. Datasets from researchers affiliated with Borealis partners are published in institutional collections or sub-collections. Interested users wishing to test Borealis can access the demo platform.

The Borealis team is responsible for setting up institutional and organizational collections in the repository. Local institutional and organizational collection managers are responsible for data curation and user support. Additional support for service administration, including agreement management, invoicing, and service governance, is provided by regional academic library consortia and the University of Toronto Libraries.

Contact us for more information.

For researchers

Borealis offers researchers a place to securely store, manage, publish, share, and support discovery and reuse of your research data. The bilingual, multidisciplinary, and secure repository is hosted on Canadian infrastructure, and supported by academic libraries and research institutions across Canada. Borealis supports open discovery, management, sharing, and preservation of Canadian research data.

Anyone can search, view, and download open data without an account. Anyone can create an account, but only authorized users of participating institutions and their collaborators can deposit data into Borealis. Researchers who are affiliated with a participating institution or organization should contact the institutional service and collection manager for details about depositing and collaborating. Research data management and related research services are also available.

Visit our Partners for participating institutions and research organizations.

Read our User Guide for more details.

Governance and Organization

Borealis is governed in partnership by a national Borealis Steering Committee, with member representatives from the service provider (University of Toronto Libraries), regional academic library consortia, Council of Atlantic Academic Libraries (CAAL-CBPA), Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries (COPPUL), Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL), and Partenariat des bibliothèques universitaires du Québec (PBUQ), and and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada.

The Borealis Steering Committee provides oversight and is responsible for the continued successful functioning of the service. The Steering Committee sets strategic priorities and actions, advises the Borealis Director on new initiatives and developments, and operates under the following governing principles:

  • Operation of a national service
  • Shared and equitable multi-consortia oversight
  • Clear, transparent, and responsive governance
  • Simple and lightweight governance
  • Commitment to a fully bilingual service
  • A governance model flexible and durable enough to withstand changes in service providers
  • Sustainability and longevity (governance structure, budget, service)

The establishment of an Expert Advisory Council is forthcoming and will provide expert and researcher advice to the Steering Committee on matters related to the Borealis repository, including services and developments, storage needs, policies, and various research and community initiatives associated with the Borealis repository. Figure 1 provides a diagram of the governance structure, including the Steering Committee, Expert Advisory Council, and the Borealis team (described below). More details about the Borealis Governance, including the membership of the Steering Committee, bylaws, and procedures will be announced in 2024.

Diagram showing the Borealis Governance structure, with the Borealis Steering Committee represented at the top, connected to the Borealis Service (University of Toronto Libraries), and the Borealis Expert Advisory Council. The Borealis Service is connected to Repository Management: Borealis Team and Institutional Collection Management.
Figure 1. Borealis, Governance Structure

Borealis Service Team

The Borealis Team is responsible for the overall operations and maintenance of the repository. The team consists of staff from a number of participating institutions, totalling 4.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs) and includes:

  • Borealis Service Director
  • Research Data Management Librarian
  • Borealis Support Specialist (Bilingual outreach)
  • Software Developer
  • Senior Systems Administrator
  • Systems Administrator

Borealis Repository Structure

As shown in Figure 2, the Borealis repository hosts institutional collections that are solely administered and managed by designated institutional staff at participating libraries, institutions, and research organizations in Canada. Some institutions provide sub-collections to individual researchers and/or groups. Additional non-institutional collections can be created, which require sponsorship by at least one or more participating institutions or organizations.

The Borealis Repository Structure diagram shows 'Institutional Collection 1' that contains three datasets and 'Institutional Collection 2' that contains a sub-collection with two datasets.
Figure 2. Borealis, Repository Structure

Community Support

Community support for institutional administrators and interested members is facilitated by the Borealis Dataverse Community Facilitation Team (see Figure 3), which is composed of the following members from the Borealis Team and the Dataverse North Expert Group, which is part of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada’s Research Data Management Network of Experts (asterisks indicate co-chairs):

  • Borealis Service Director*
  • Dataverse North Expert Group Chair*
  • Research Data Management Librarian
  • Borealis Support Specialist (Bilingual outreach)
  • Data Curation Officer (Digital Research Alliance of Canada)

The Dataverse North Expert Group brings together Dataverse providers, libraries, and administrators to coordinate local and national training, working groups, support services, outreach strategies, and community development. The Borealis Dataverse Administrator community benefits from a wide audience of experts on Dataverse, data curation, digital preservation, and other relevant topics who collaborate on initiatives and share knowledge. Engagement with the community is made possible through monthly virtual meetings, special events, and a moderated email list-serv.

The Borealis Community Support Structure diagram shows the Borealis Team and the Dataverse North Expert Group (part of the Alliance RDM Network of Experts) coordinating the Borealis Dataverse Community Facilitation Team.
Figure 3. Borealis Community Support Structure

Designated Community

Borealis is a research data repository service offered to libraries, institutions, and research organizations in Canada. The repository is available to individual researchers and groups of participating member institutions, and is subject to policies governing use at each institution. In addition to supporting deposited collections, Borealis is a repository for data users. Users can search, discover, and reuse research data when appropriate. Borealis encourages open and appropriate discovery and access to Canadian research data for data users from around the world.

Policies

  • Preservation Plan: The preservation plan outlines the objectives, roles and responsibilities, strategies, and actions for preserving the digital files uploaded by users and stored in the repository.
  • Privacy Statement: This privacy statement explains what data we collect through the use of Borealis, how this information is treated, and for what purpose.
  • Technology Infrastructure and Security Information: The Technology Infrastructure and Security Information document outlines general information, technical infrastructure, application security, and storage and backup details.
  • Terms of Use: The Terms of Use governs all use of the Borealis service.

Support

To receive local support from your library or institution, click on your institution or organization in the Partners list and click “Contact” on the institutional collection page. Alternatively, request support through the “Support” link in the main navigation of the platform, which will send a message to all local support administrators from each participating institution.

For technical questions or information about subscribing to the service, use the Contact form to contact the Borealis team.

The User Guide provides additional information around the repository features. An Administrator Guide is in development.

Published June 23, 2022. Modified January 4, 2024.