# What is Dataverse?

Dataverse is an open source web application for sharing, preserving, citing, exploring, and analyzing research data. It is developed and supported by the Dataverse user community.

A Dataverse repository can host one or more Dataverse collections, which organize datasets. 

- Collections can contain datasets and sub-collections for further organization.  
- Each dataset includes:  
  - Metadata  
  - Data files  
  - Documentation or code

## Core Capabilities

### 📤 Upload, manage, publish and download data files.

- Upload data while retaining directory structure for better context and reproducibility.  
- Manage datasets by inviting collaborators before publication.  
- Control access with permissions, configurations, licenses, file restrictions, and guestbooks.  
- Publish datasets with rich metadata, licensing, and versioning to make data FAIR.  
- Download data with clear terms of use and cite data using provided citation options.

### 🔍 Make your data findable, reusable, and citable with rich metadata

- Rich metadata is added to a dataset before publication, with the option to use domain-specific metadata blocks.  
- Harvest metadata of datasets through the distribution of standardized data descriptions across the web (e.g. Google Dataset Search).

### 📜Define how data can be reused with clear terms

- Standardized licenses can be applied to a dataset.  
- Custom dataset terms allow for dataset publication that cannot use standardized licenses.

### 📈 Keep track of changes on published datasets with versioning

- Track version changes with metadata and file changes tracked as minor and major versions.  
- Access and cite specific versions via the version tab on a dataset.  
- Compare versions with the detailed version change overview on dataset-level.

### ✨More features  
The Dataverse project is continuously evolving. For an overview of capabilities, visit the [features list](https://dataverse.org/software-features).