Data repository · Database
Zenodo
A general-purpose open repository operated by CERN for sharing and preserving research datasets, software and papers.
What Zenodo is
Zenodo is a multidisciplinary digital repository developed under the European OpenAIRE programme and operated by CERN. Launched in May 2013 as the successor to the OpenAIRE Orphan Records Repository and relaunched in 2015, it was created to provide a universal home for research outputs and help scholars comply with open science mandates when they lack access to an institutional archive.
The platform stores more than four million records across all academic disciplines, including datasets, research code, journal articles, preprints, presentations, and reports. It is supported by CERN as a marginal activity on infrastructure originally deployed for high-energy physics, receiving additional funding through the CERN & Society Foundation and participating in initiatives such as the Generalist Repository Ecosystem Initiative (GREI).
How it is organised
Zenodo is built on Invenio, a free software framework designed for large-scale digital repositories, overlaid with an application layer called Zenodo. Researchers can upload individual artefacts or multiple files up to 50 GB directly through the web interface or via an automated integration with GitHub. Upon publication, the platform mints and registers a persistent Digital Object Identifier (DOI) within seconds, and subsequent revisions can be published through a built-in versioning system.
The repository supports multiple access tiers, enabling authors to publish openly, apply an embargo period that displays only metadata until a chosen date, or restrict access for sensitive materials such as anonymised clinical trial data. Records can also be organized into thematic collections managed by scientific communities, academic publishers, or research consortia, with each upload tracking standards-compliant view and download counts.
Key facts
- Operator
- CERN
- Underlying software
- Invenio
- Programme
- European OpenAIRE
- Launch date
- 8 May 2013
- Total records
- 4M+ records
- Maximum upload size
- 50 GB
- Persistent identifier
- Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- Storage infrastructure
- CERN Data Centre
What you can use it for
- Archiving research software
- Computational researchers can connect their GitHub repositories to Zenodo to preserve specific software releases permanently and receive a citable DOI.
- Publishing supplementary datasets
- Scientists can deposit experimental data, tabular files, and supplementary materials up to 50 GB to fulfil open-access funder requirements.
- Managing restricted clinical or pre-publication data
- Investigators can publish metadata publicly whilst placing underlying data under an embargo or restricting access strictly to verified researchers.
- Curating community and journal outputs
- Research networks, project consortia, and academic journals can maintain dedicated community pages to aggregate and moderate submissions related to their specific field.
Query it here
The research agent queries Zenodo directly — no account, no API key — and every answer links back to the record it came from. Ask in plain language and it writes the query.
Strengths and limits
Good at
- Every deposit is immediately assigned a persistent Digital Object Identifier registered within seconds of publication.
- Direct integration with GitHub provides an automated mechanism to archive and cite versioned software releases.
- Flexible access settings support fully open data, restricted sharing, and timed embargoes.
- Records are stored inside CERN's Data Centre infrastructure for long-term preservation.
Watch out for
- Deposits are limited to a maximum file size of 50 GB per upload.
- Records from authors who lack an academic affiliation or manual verification may be de-ranked and excluded from external search engine indexing.
- The service is operated by CERN as a marginal activity alongside its primary high-energy physics commitments.
Questions
Can I search Zenodo without writing code?
Yes. The research agent queries Zenodo directly, with no account or API key, and cites the record behind every answer. Ask in plain language — for a gene, a protein, a compound or a study — and it builds the query for you.
Can I reuse data from Zenodo?
Zenodo publishes its own terms of use; read them on https://zenodo.org before reusing its records.
What research formats and digital artefacts does Zenodo accept?
Zenodo accepts datasets, software code, preprints, publications, reports, conference presentations, posters, and computational workflows across all scientific disciplines.
How quickly are DOIs assigned upon upload?
Uploads become available online immediately upon publication, and the assigned Digital Object Identifier is registered within seconds.
Can datasets be revised after they have received a DOI?
Yes, Zenodo includes a versioning feature that allows researchers to update datasets and software releases while retaining persistent records of previous versions.
Does Zenodo accommodate data that cannot be made immediately public?
Yes, depositors can use an embargo setting to publish only metadata until a specified date, or use restricted access to share files exclusively with selected parties.
Written from Zenodo's own website and reference material. Statements citing a figure that does not appear there are removed before publication. Licence and running details come from our registry.