Data reviews are intended to describe and contextualise data collections archived on third-party websites outside of Discuss Data. A data review essentially consists of two parts: the review and a link to the original source of the dataset under discussion.

The aim is to make data collections that suit into the categories of Discuss Data more visible, to provide basic information about the data, using the Discuss Data standardised metadata scheme, and to highlight the aspects of a data collection that are particularly relevant to the Discuss Data community.

Data reviews can only be published on Discuss Data if the data collection under review is accessible online with a persistent identifier (such as a DOI).

As Discuss Data encourages critical discussion of data collections, a data review should not only describe the data collection, but also discuss issues of validity, interpretation, quality, ethics and reusability, where appropriate.