Governing delegated curation in research data repositories: a qualitative study of data deposit support

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Purpose This article examines how research data repositories (RDRs) regulate the quality of deposited datasets through deposit support practices. Rather than treating quality standards as predefined requirements, it investigates how repositories negotiate, maintain and adapt acceptable quality thresholds under organizational constraints. More broadly, the paper analyses how the redistribution of curatorial work between repositories, researchers and intermediaries reshapes the governance of research data curation. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a comparative qualitative analysis of 22 European and North American research data repositories in the social sciences. It combines semi-structured interviews with repository managers and curators, documentary analysis of deposit policies and support materials, and a comparative organizational approach. The analysis is informed by Jean-Daniel Reynaud's social regulation theory, which provides a framework for examining how quality standards are negotiated and implemented in practice. Findings The study shows that data quality standards are not simply applied by repositories but are continually produced through organizational regulation. Repository support practices redistribute curatorial work between repositories and depositors while remaining constrained by available resources, repository missions, disciplinary traditions and institutional contexts. The findings also reveal significant variations in support models and highlight the structural difficulty of maintaining high curation standards as deposit volumes and data diversity increase. Research limitations/implications The study is based on a theoretically selected sample of repositories rather than a statistically representative one and focuses primarily on European and North American social science repositories. Nevertheless, it offers an analytical framework for understanding repository governance beyond individual cases. Future research could extend the analysis to other disciplinary fields, geographical areas and repository models, while complementing this comparative perspective with ethnographic studies of everyday curation work. Practical implications The findings suggest that improving data quality cannot rely solely on the dissemination of standards or on transferring curation responsibilities to researchers. Repository governance should instead recognize curation as a negotiated organizational process requiring sustained investment in expertise, coordination and support. The study also underlines the importance of making the costs of curation more visible when designing repository services and research data management policies. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature by shifting attention from formal quality standards to the organizational mechanisms through which these standards are produced and maintained. By combining a comparative study of repository practices with social regulation theory, it proposes a new interpretation of data curation as a process of negotiated regulation rather than the simple implementation of technical or documentary norms. It also provides one of the first comparative analyses of deposit support practices across a broad range of social science repositories.

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