Getting Started

Welcome to the ARK Portal docs site!

This site exists to help orient you to the portal and use it with ease to make the most of your experience.

What’s here for you?

• Read about the background of the portal and how it fits into the bigger data-sharing picture

• Get familiar with the basic structure and components of the portal and how data is stored

• Learn how to navigate the portal to explore and access data

What do you need to get started?

So, before you dive in, here’s a breakdown of what you need to get started using the portal:

Exploring data

Thanks to the open science principles that the portal is built on, anyone can browse its content! Nothing needed to explore—just go right ahead (and remember to use this site for help).

Downloading data

If you want to download data, you will need to register for a Synapse account and, in doing so, agree to the Synapse Terms and Conditions of Use.

Synapse is the backend and datastore of the ARK Portal. You can read more about Synapse here.

Some data on the portal is controlled access data and requires an additional submission of a Data Use Certificate (DUC). We typically try to complete the review within a week, but it’s most efficient if you submit the certificate as soon as possible.

Using data

Data on the portal is available for General Research Use (GRU), with no embargo on publications. If you plan to use any data downloaded from the portal in any publications, whether it is open access data or controlled access data, you must include an official acknowledgement of the data contributors. Learn how to find and use pre-written acknowledgement statements here.