The University of Stuttgart’s research data repository DaRUS has ranked 16th among the infrastructure services most frequently mentioned in individual DFG research grant proposals. The result highlights the growing importance of trusted research data infrastructures in funding applications and research practice.
An analysis of proposal texts submitted for individual DFG research grants between 2017 and 2025 shows that DaRUS was mentioned 373 times, placing it 16th in the overall ranking of research infrastructures and repositories.
For the University of Stuttgart, this is a strong result. DaRUS is the second-highest-ranked German institutional data repository, following OPARA, and the third-highest-ranked German data repository overall, after OPARA and PANGAEA. PANGAEA is a well-established disciplinary repository for Earth and environmental sciences with dedicated institutional support. DaRUS also ranks ahead of repositories at other TU9 universities, including TUdataLib, DepositOnce, mediaTUM and KITopen.
The ranking underlines DaRUS’s increasing visibility as a reliable infrastructure for publishing, documenting and preserving research data. This growing visibility is also reflected in the repository’s publication figures: in 2026 alone, more than 500 datasets have already been published via DaRUS. In recent years, the number of published datasets has steadily increased, from 201 in 2023 and 295 in 2024 to 265 in 2025 and already 513 in 2026.
This development is particularly relevant for simulation science, where data, models, and research software are essential components of transparent and reproducible research.
At SimTech, Research Data and Software Management supports researchers in developing sustainable approaches for handling research data and software. The team helps integrate data and software into research workflows, supports publication through infrastructures such as DaRUS, and contributes to making scientific results more accessible, reusable, and reproducible.
The findings also reflect the importance of addressing research data management early in the proposal process. By naming suitable repositories and infrastructure services in grant applications, researchers demonstrate how research data will be documented, shared and preserved throughout and beyond a project.
Further information is available in the recording of the presentation and the preprint on OSF.