So a PID is necessary, but not sufficient.

The License Agreement between 3TU.Datacentrum and data submitters explicitly states that the repository (i) “shall ensure, to the best of its ability and resources, that the deposited dataset will remain legible and accessible”; (ii) “shall, as far as possible, preserve the dataset unchanged in its original format, taking account of current technology and the costs of implementation”; and (iii) “has the right to modify the format of the dataset if this is necessary in order to facilitate the digital sustainability, distribution or re-use of the dataset”.

This study embraces the definition of (research) data given by Borgman (2015), i.e., “entities used as evidence of phenomena for the purpose of research or scholarship”, and uses “dataset” to refer to the unit of data subject of the data publishing activity, no matter how many files it materialises (Renear et al., 2010). This “dataset” definition includes the term “data package” as adopted by Dryad to mean a set of data files associated with a publication, as well as “dataset” and “fileset” as used by Figshare to indicate data (the former) and a group of multiple files citable as a single object (the latter).

They are called to implement systematic data stewardship practices thus to foster adequate scientific datasets collection, curation, preservation, long term availability, dissemination and access.