Gaining access to SHARE data

SHARE data can be used free of charge for scientific use. Access services are rendered through two public data archives in cooperation with the Central SHARE Coordination Team: the CentERdata Archive located at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and the Data Archive for the Social Sciences, a public data archive run by GESIS Leibniz-Institute for Social Sciences in Cologne, Germany.

At present, data for waves 1 through 8 are available. To gain access to the data you must register as a SHARE user by following three simple steps. Please read through this page before using SHARE data for your projects. We also refer to the official SHARE website.

In order to gain access to SHARE data follow the  steps below:

1. Read the “Conditions of Use” carefully. In the next step you must accept the conditions, which is a requirement in order to gain access to the data.
2. Download and fill in the “Statement Concerning the Use of SHARE Data”. You can find more information about the form on the official SHARE website.
3. Send the signed form to SHARE Research Data Center, either by e-mail or in a letter.
   

    
   Address:
   SHARE Research Data Center
   c/o CentERdata
   Tilburg University
   P.O. Box 90153
   5000 LE Tilburg
   The Netherlands
   E-mail: share-rdc@centerdata.nl

 If you send the form by e-mail you need to use a valid e-mail address of the affiliated institution. Any other e-mail address will be rejected.   
The data become available when the Data Center has received the signed statement. Applicants will receive a username and a password, and it will be possible to download data straight away. The username and password can be used for all subsequent updates of data.

Registered users have permission to use data from the SHARE project as long as the academic affiliation given in the statement still applies. If some of the specifications given in the statement change (including e-mail address!), the user must submit a new form. Users who have forgotten their password can find help on the log-in page. However, the e-mail address entered at login must be the same as the one that was stated in the application for access.

Publications

SHARE users are encouraged to notify the SHARE Coordination Team regarding any publications based on SHARE data. Please send an e-mail. Furthermore, all publications based on SHARE data should be correctly cited. Please read the SHARE Citation Requirements. When new data are released/updated,  remember to change the release number in the citation.

Users of SHARE data are not allowed to copy or distribute data to other users. Users of SHARE data will be added to a list of SHARE data users. In case of doubt as to whether the data have been used for other purposes than scientific research, the Director of SHARE (Axel Börsch-Supan) will decide if the user and his/her password should be cancelled and whether to take any legal action or not.

SHARE regularly updates the webpage with lists of all published materials using SHARE data. See all the publications here.