What Is Mendeley Data?

Updated

Mendeley Data is a platform for publishing, sharing, and discovering research datasets. It is aimed at researchers who need a place to deposit data or who want to find datasets produced by others. The site also describes itself as helping users search books, ebooks, papers, library records, or reading archives, so it sits within a broader research-tool ecosystem rather than functioning only as a data repository.

What you can do on Mendeley Data

The platform supports two main activities:

  • Publishing and sharing datasets — researchers can deposit research data so it can be cited, reused, or preserved.
  • Discovering datasets — anyone can search for datasets that others have made available.

The site's own description extends the search scope beyond datasets to books, ebooks, papers, library records, and reading archives, which makes it useful as a starting point for locating research material, not just raw data.

Who it is for

Mendeley Data is primarily built for researchers. Typical situations include:

  • You have collected data for a study and need somewhere to publish it alongside a paper.
  • You want to find an existing dataset to reuse or compare against your own results.
  • You are looking for related literature, records, or reading material while researching a topic.

How it fits into the Mendeley ecosystem

Mendeley Data is operated by Mendeley, which is part of a wider set of research tools. If you already use Mendeley for reference management, the data platform is a natural companion for handling the datasets that accompany your work.

Practical starting points

If you are new to the platform, the most direct way to understand it is to use it:

  1. Go to data.mendeley.com.
  2. Use the search to look for a dataset in your field and see how records are presented.
  3. If you have data to share, look for the option to publish or deposit a dataset and follow the submission steps shown on the site.

Because the available source material does not include details on pricing, account requirements, or specific submission menus, check those directly on the site before relying on any assumption about cost or login.