Data journals publish articles with descriptions of research data. This distinguishes them from conventional scientific journals, where articles usually provide the scientific interpretation of data. The interpreted data sets are in turn often made available separately via research data repositories.

Articles in data journals are particularly useful for the description of large and/or complex data sets, as they facilitate the subsequent utilisation of these data. Similar to conventional journals, they undergo a scientific peer-review process before publication to ensure the good quality of the respective article.

Although they have so far been more widespread in the natural sciences, data journals can be considered for all disciplines. For the digital humanities and social sciences, they offer the possibility of linking complex data, e.g. from different eras or from different sources. The data journal should be seen less as a classic description of research data. Instead, it can be seen as a kind of digital notebook or annotation platform for a topic or research project.

With the publication platform JMU Data Journals, the Würzburg University Library offers a possibility for the digital publication of data journals in Open Access. As the editor of a data journal, you will receive training on the platform and can then manage your journal yourself. A detailed description of the services can be found under "Service scope".

The first publication published on JMU Data Journals is the UBW Data Journal, which is an example of how a data journal with a focus on the humanities can be structured and which functionalities JMU Data Journals offers. You can find the UBW Data Journal directly on the homepage.