DesignSafe Impact
DesignSafe serves experimental, field, and simulation data, it provides computational resources, and it facilitates discoveries that are driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) – all of which reduce the impacts of natural hazards on the built environment and communities. The following metrics illustrate the public value of DesignSafe data and the research it facilitates.
For specific examples demonstrating the value of DesignSafe, read our data reuse stories.
Community
 |
10,500+Registered Users |
High Performance Computing
 |
61 MillionCore Hours/Year |
Tools & Applications
 |
50,000Jobs/Year |
Growing a Collection of Datasets Over Time
DesignSafe has transformed the culture of data publishing in the natural hazards community, growing to house datasets from the NHERI network, as well as from research supported by other NSF Directorates, a multitude of Federal and State agencies, and international researchers. This expanding repository reflects the natural hazards community's increasing commitment to open science and collaborative research.
2,000+
Datasets
55+ Million
Files
510 TB
Data Stored
 |
The DesignSafe Data Depot is a Trustworthy Data Repository of the CoreTrustSeal Standards and Certification Board. |
Fewer than 5% of data repositories worldwide have been certified by CoreTrustSeal.
Supporting a Variety of Natural Hazards Researchers
DesignSafe supports research across a wide variety of natural hazards, with earthquake and hurricane datasets being well- represented along with other water, wind, and wildfire hazards. The datasets available in DesignSafe represent a myriad of authors, disciplines, institutions, and funding agencies.
2,100+
Dataset Authors
20+
Fields of Science
350+
Institutions
120
Experimental Facilities
574
Research Grants
83
Federal and State Funding Agencies
Measuring Data Usage
We use the aggregated metrics of Unique Requests and Unique Investigations for all published datasets to measure DesignSafe data usage. These metrics tally distinct one-hour sessions during which a user retrieves published data (Requests) or examines published data or metadata (Investigations). Accessing multiple files within the same hour counts as a single session, which allows for a fair comparison between datasets with vastly different file counts. These Make Data Count standards are considered the best metrics for assessing data reuse.
980,000+
Unique Investigations
80,000+
Unique Requests
How Does Usage of Your Dataset Compare to Others?
Most natural hazards datasets receive 6 to 44 Unique Requests in year 1 (UR1) after publication, with "medium usage" defined as within one standard deviation of the average (as defined in log space). The UR1 data has a long tail, with 46 datasets registering values greater than 100. Datasets with lower UR1 metrics can improve visibility through increased promotion efforts, including presenting at conferences, advertising, and encouraging citations.
Measuring Dataset Citations
Citations of DesignSafe datasets in journal articles, books, and dissertations, provide evidence that these have been reused to conduct new research. Since its launch in 2015, DesignSafe datasets have been cited almost 1,000 times, a number that also includes citations for NEES publications hosted in DesignSafe. As a source for citation information, DesignSafe uses Clarivate, which captures citations located in the reference section of the papers that cite our datasets. DesignSafe measures citations of the platform, tools and services using Google Scholar.
985
Dataset Citations
275
Dataset Citation Sources
408
Platform Citations
Measuring Extended Impact
Another way to quantify the impact of DesignSafe on the natural hazards research community is by keeping track of citations to the papers that include references to DesignSafe platform and datasets. Since its launch in 2016, about 1,500 publications mention DesignSafe or DesignSafe datasets, and these publications have been cited almost 18,000 times.