About the KNB

The Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity (KNB) is an international repository intended to facilitate ecological and environmental research.

Powered by rich, detailed metadata.

For scientists, the KNB is an efficient way to share, discover, access and interpret complex ecological data. Due to rich contextual information provided with KNB data, scientists are able to integrate and analyze data with less effort. The data originate from a highly-distributed set of field stations, laboratories, research sites, and individual researchers. The foundation of the KNB is the rich, detailed metadata provided by researchers that collect data, which promotes both automated and manual integration of data into new projects.

Open-source software.

Learn about the KNB Developer Tools and API

As part of the KNB effort, data management software is developed in a free and open source manner, so other groups can build upon the tools. The KNB is powered by the Metacat data management system, and is optimized for handling data sets described using the Ecological Metadata Language, but can store any XML-based metadata document. Learn more about the software behind KNB

Easily share your research and get more exposure with the DataONE network.

As a long-term repository, the KNB allows you to preserve your data for future generations of scientists. However, you can share your data with your colleagues today, and get a permanent identifier for all files in your data set. The KNB supports Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), so your data sets can be confidently referenced in any publication. And as a DataONE Member Node, the KNB will securely replicate your data to other servers, maintaining all of the privacy controls you set. This means that your data are secure in the event that the KNB servers themselves experience any catastrophic failure. What are the benefits of KNB being a DataONE Member Node?

Getting Started

Storing and Sharing Your Research

Submitting your data to the KNB is easy. Here are two ways to get started:

Use any file format.

While the KNB supports the upload of any data file format, sharing data can be greatly enhanced if you use ubiquitous, easy-to-read formats. For instance, while Microsoft Excel files are commonplace, it's better to export these spreadsheets to Comma Separated Values (CSV) text files, which can be read on any computer without having Microsoft products installed.

To prepare for upload, it's good to have your files in order. You might want to take a look at some best practices for managing your data files. For a given project, perhaps you have 6 data files, and one document that describes the methods that you used to collect or analyze your data. Collect these files into a single directory, and name them with short but descriptive names. Try to avoid spaces in your file names, but rather use dashes "-" or underscores "_".

For image files, use common formats like PNG, JPEG, TIFF, etc. Most all browsers can handle these. If you use specialized software to create your data, try to save you data in well-known formats. For instance, GIS data can be exported to ESRI shapefiles, and data created in Matlab or other matrix-based programs can be exported as NetCDF (an open binary format).

Search for Data

Search for data here and get helpful search tips on our help page.

Publish data with a DOI for long-term stable access.

Assign your data set a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and allow others to cite your data with the DOI to find the current location(s) for the data.

Because web addresses can change over time, it is important that your data set not be tied to a specific address on the internet. DOIs allow an identifier to be created that can be resolved to the multiple locations that a data set might exist, and then client tools can decide which of those copies is the most efficient to access.

How to assign a DOI to your data

To assign a DOI using the KNB requires that you have the proper permissions on the data set. Simply log in to the KNB web interface with your username and password, and then search for your data set by clicking on "My Packages" from the user menu. If you are the owner or have been granted management permissions, you will see a 'Publish' button, which both makes the data set publicly accessible and assigns a DOI to that particular version of the data set. The DOI is registered with DataCite using the EZID service, and will be discoverable through multiple data citation networks, including DataONE and others.

Learn more about DOIs