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Not storing data properly and disregarding safeguards can lead to losing important research data. This does not occur rarely. A study carried out on 516 articles published from 1991 to 2011 has revealed that availability of research data in biology decreases about 17% per year.<ref>Vines T H, Albert A Y K, Andrew R L, Moore J S, Renaut S, Rennison D J. The Availability of Research Data Declines Rapidly with Article Age. Curr Biol. 2014;24(1):94-97.</ref> Various reasons can lead to unavailability of research data, whether researchers change their contact information and are not reachable anymore or they use outdated technology, such as floppy disks, to store their data.<ref>Wiener-Bronner D. Most Scientific Research Data From the 1990s Is Lost Forever. The Atlantic. 2013 Dec 23. [cited 2021 Oct 18]. Available from: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/12/scientific-data-lost-forever/356422/. </ref> Apart from that, even when researchers are able to access their data, they often lose hours and hours searching for them in their computer files.<ref>Briney K A, Coates H, Goben A. Foundational Practices of Research Data Management. Research Ideas and Outcomes. 2020; 6:e56508.</ref> Therefore, depositing data into repositories can save a considerable amount of time. There are several benefits for researchers who deposit their data into repositories:

-data is clustered together which enables easier and faster analysis and reporting

-potential problems are detected easier because repositories are categorised

-data is preserved and archived.<ref name=":0">Brook C. What is a Data Repository? Digital Guardian. 2018 Dec 5. [cited 2021 Oct 18]. Available from: https://digitalguardian.com/blog/what-data-repository.</ref>

Overall, such practice promotes transparency in research and reduce misconduct.<ref>Manneheimer A, Pienta A, Kirilova D, Elman C, Wutich A. Qualitative Data Sharing: Data Repositories and Academic Libraries as Kex Partners in Addressing Challenges. Am. Behav. Sci. 2019;63(5):643-664.</ref> However, data repositories also have some downsides. For example, there is a possibility of a system crash that could affect the stored data, so it is important always to back up datasets.<ref name=":0" />
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Some journals, such as Nature, require depositing data to data repositories as part of the manuscript submission process. This is one of the prerequisites for publication.<ref name=":0">Data Repository Guidance. Scientific data. Nature. [cited 2021 Oct 18]. Available from: https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#toc.</ref> Nature has set out certain criteria for data repositories. They should:

-provide long-term preservation of data (at least 5 years after publication)

-be supported by a research community or institution

-provide deposited datasets with stable and persistent identifiers

-allow open access

-provide terms of data use

-facilitate for anonymous reviewers to access data under embargo.<ref name=":0" />

The journal also offers a list of repositories across research areas for researchers who are not certain where to deposit their data:

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=Generalist%20repositories-,Biological%20sciences,-%E2%A4%B4 Biological sciences]

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=Generalist%20repositories-,Biological%20sciences,-%E2%A4%B4 Health sciences]

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=view%20FAIRshaing%20entry-,Chemistry%20and%20Chemical%20biology,-%E2%A4%B4 Chemistry and Chemical biology]

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=view%20FAIRsharing%20entry-,Earth%2C%20Environmental%20and%20Space%20sciences,-%E2%A4%B4 Earth, Environmental and Space sciences]

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=view%20FAIRsharing%20entry-,Physics,-%E2%A4%B4 Physics]

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=view%20re3data%20entry-,Materials%20science,-%E2%A4%B4 Material science]

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=view%20FAIRsharing%20entry-,Social%20sciences,-%E2%A4%B4 Social sciences]

-[https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories#:~:text=view%20re3data%20entry-,Generalist%20repositories,-%E2%A4%B4 Generalist repositories].<ref name=":0" />
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