A collection is defined as a set of research data files related to a specific topic, project, or publication. It always includes metadata that support the findability and accessibility of the research data. A collection is sufficiently well documented to allow end users to use the collection for its intended purpose. This intended purpose may be internal reuse of research data, external reuse of research data, and/or verification or replication of published research. The Radboud Data Repository (RDR) has three types of collections: the Data Acquisition Collection (DAC), the Research Documentation Collection (RDC), and the Data Sharing collection (DSC).

A collection identifier is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a collection in the RDR.

A contributor is a role a researcher can have in a collection of the RDR. Contributors can view, download, add, modify and delete files of a collection and update the collections metadata.

See Research Data.

A DAC is one of the three RDR collection types. It serves to archive (closed access), not publish, research data. It is designed to store data in their original form, i.e. without any manipulation that would limit future analyses.

A DSC is one of the three RDR collection types. This collection serves to publish data on which a research article or other publication is based. This allows for open access data sharing with the external scientific community. With this, other researchers can extend scientific findings by re-analysing data using new methods and/or address new research questions using these data.

A DUA is an agreement that governs the sharing of data between the data sharing party and the user of those data. It establishes how information in a collection may be used by the intended recipient and how it is protected. In the RDR, DUAs specify the conditions under which data in DSCs are shared.

The act of maintaining information understandable over the long-term. Long-term preservation entails:

1. Secure, backed-up storage of digital data;
2. Procedures and activities (a.k.a. data curation) that ensure that  the information in digital data remains understandable over time.

Manager is a role a researcher can have in a collection of the RDR. The collection manager is responsible for the data collection as stipulated in the RDR Repository Policy. A manager of a collection can add and remove users to or from the collection and can change the state of a collection. They can also view, download, add, modify, and delete files in that collection and can update the collection metadata (e.g. title, abstract, keywords).

Data about other data. In this context, data about an RDR collection and the data files of that collection. Metadata in de RDR include the information on the collection's landing page as well as files in the collection that have been labelled as documentation files.

An OU is a section of an organisation that has its own management and implementation of RDM procedures. Within Radboud University there are multiple OUs, which are organised according to faculties, research institutes, or research centres. Each of these OU has its own implementation of RDR-related procedures.

Research data are all data, digital and non-digital, that were generated or reused during the research process and used to form scientific conclusions. This encompasses information that is used to form and test hypotheses, as well as information upon which conclusions are based. This definition of research data includes observational, experimental, simulated, derived, and compiled data. It also includes software generated during the research process or the workflow describing the research process.

An RDC is one of the three collection types of the RDR. It serves to archive research data closed access; not to publish it. It is designed to store processed data (e.g. analysis scripts, preliminary figures, or the different versions of a paper) that document the research process, share preliminary results within the research team, and document the editorial and peer-review process.

The roles that are assigned to researchers in a collection define the rights of a specific researcher with respect to that collection. There are three different roles in the RDR, namely viewer (with only viewing rights), contributor (with viewing and editing rights) and manager (with viewing, editing, and managing rights).

A viewer is a role a researcher can have in a collection of the RDR. Viewers of a collection can view details and content of that collection and download files from that collection. They cannot add, modify, or delete collection files or update collection details.