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Dryad

Creating a README

On the README screen of the Dryad submission editor, you will be asked to create a documentation file describing your data files' content and organization, which will serve as the main source of information for users of your dataset.

Your README file should contain the details needed to interpret and reuse your data, including abbreviations and codes, file descriptions, and information about any necessary software. For more information about the contents of a good README file, see Good data practices.

You may use our onscreen README generator to create documentation for your dataset. If you have already created a README in markdown format, you may upload that file into the README editor. If you wish to provide additional documentation, or README files in other formats, those should be uploaded along with your dataset files on the Files screen.

README generator

The README file for your submission can be created onscreen using Dryad’s provided README generator. The generator is a step-by-step tool that invites you to fill in the sections of a README recommended by Dryad:

  • Data description
  • Files and variables
  • Code and software
  • Access information

For each step, additional information and examples are provided of content expectations. File and variable names are automatically imported and inserted from your uploaded files, depending on file type. Thus, it is recommended that you upload all data files before using the README generator.

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