Definition

"Projects" are collaborative spaces used for ongoing work. 

(warning) Projects are the best solution when:

  • multiple people need to be able to independently upload datasets and create metadata for items which are related to each other
  • and if they also need to have access to colleagues' data for review and comment before publishing.

You can give people outside the Institution access to review and contribute data by inviting them to your project - all they will need is a (standard, free) figshare account.

"Individual" vs. "Group" Projects

There are two types of projects, differentiated by how storage is allocated - "individual (storage)" and "group (storage)" projects.  

How to choose

If most of the people in your project are permanent Smithsonian staff, or the collaboration is is a "one off" you probably want to create an "Individual" project.

If the project is large, long-term, and/or involves many collaborators from outside the Institution, but we are responsible for the long-term management of the data you should create a "Group" project.


Individual Projects

Group Projects

Everyone uses their own quota and account storage.

Storage is allocated from the project owner's group's (unit's) quota, i.e., whatever group/subgroup the project owner belongs to determines the total storage quota allocation.

This group allocation must be shared among all group projects that fall under that unit/group*.

People have full control of their items, even if they leave the project, i.e., they can remove their item from the project space.

All work remains within the project (institutional storage) space if people leave.

Project owners can transfer control of any item on the project to themselves by removing the original uploader from the project member's list.

Items are created using the metadata schema of the submitter.

Contributors must adopt the metadata schema of the project owner, including custom fields.

Items also appear in the subgroup of the uploader.

Items appear only under the subgroup that the project owner is a member of, regardless of submitter's affiliation.

Items published by users from outside the organization don’t have to go through review (if review is turned on for the group).*

Items published by users from outside the organization have to go through review (if review is turned on for the group).**

*note: if a project is created, a certain amount of storage - usually 10GB -  is set aside from the overall unit allocation even if the project has no or even one or two small files in it

**currently review is NOT turned on for any SI group

Create a new project

  1. Under My Content go to Projects and click on the +Create new button.
    1. Complete the metadata fields as descriptively as possible.
    2. Under Allocate storage choose either group or individual storage as needed (based on the criteria above).

Add Members

While creating the project

  1. Add people to the project by searching on the right hand side under Members. Add users not currently on Figshare by clicking on the invite new users link.
    1. Members can either be collaborators or viewers.
      1. Viewers can view, download and comment on datasets
      2. Collaborators can view, download, and comment and upload items to the project

After the project has been created

  1. You can add additional members by clicking on Edit and then the Manage Members button (in the right)


  2. If new members have a figshare account, you can search for them by email address, name, or ORCID. 

    (warning) Note that many users have similar names, and it is difficult in this interface to differentiate among them. Adding members by using their ORCID or email are the safest options.

  3. If new members do not have a figshare account, you can send them an invitation using the email link

Remove members

  1. From the Manage members screen click on the X next to the retiring member's name.

  2. If your project is a group project, you, the project owner, will now be able to edit items uploaded by the 'retired' member.


Privacy and pre-publication review

Projects can be a mix of both published (public) and unpublished (private) datasets. Anyone that is a member of a project - both viewers and collaborators - can view and download private datasets.


Private Projects

If a project is not published, it will only be visible to the project members on their "projects" tab. It will not have a landing page.


Adding/moving your data to a project

(warning) this assumes that you are the owner of or a collaborator on the project

  1. New dataset:
    While in your project, click the +    Add Content button, which takes you to the metadata form. Once you’ve saved the item, it will appear in the home page of the project.
    If you switch to the Comments tab of any item in the project, you can comment on individual items within the project or on the project as a whole.


  2. Existing dataset:
    You can also move an existing data     to a project by looking in your Items then clicking the checkbox to the left of the item you want to move, then from the Choose Action drop down, selecting Move to/from project, and selecting the project you want to move the data to/from.

(warning)To make the project public, you must first make at least one item public within the project.