Metadata catalogue

Search public sector datasets about people, places and businesses and discover how to request access for your research.

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Discover public sector datasets available to request for research.

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Search all datasets datasets accessible through the Researcher Access Service datasets with synthetic data

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About the catalogue

The Research Data Scotland (RDS) metadata catalogue provides a view of data available for research in Scotland, and of how to request access to that data.

The catalogue covers secure (not open access) data on people living in Scotland that is held in trusted research environments (TREs) in Scotland, governed by access processes based in Scotland, and that can be requested to conduct research in the public good.

The catalogue is intended for researchers, including academics and analysts from the public, private and third sectors. These individuals could be located anywhere in the world. It aims to give a comprehensive, accurate and user-friendly platform that enables efficient discovery and access to metadata.

The information provided for each dataset includes the data provider, top-level description, temporal and geographical coverage, and access details. Some records include details of variables in the dataset which can be viewed online, in JSON format, or downloaded as a spreadsheet.

We will add new datasets to the catalogue as they become available for research.

Find out how to apply to use the data or find details of projects approved through our Researcher Access Service on our Data Use Register.

Further resources

In addition to the RDS metadata catalogue, additional resources may be helpful to researchers looking to use health, social care and administrative data from Scotland. The following repositories offer information on a variety of public sector datasets.

ADR Scotland data records

ADR Scotland has published a list of datasets which researchers affiliated with approved organisations can apply to access. This includes links to metadata files, supporting information and related resources.

View the ADR Scotland datasets

Administrative Data Research Scotland (ADR Scotland) is a partnership combining specialists in the Scottish Government's Data for Research Unit with the expertise of academic researchers at the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR). Together they are transforming how public sector data in Scotland is curated, accessed and explored, so it can deliver its full potential for policymakers and for the public.

To view the ADR Scotland datasets, apply the "ADR" tag on the metadata catalogue.

For Education Analytical Services datasets, demographic variables may need to be requested from the Pupil Census and linked to define cohorts.

ADR Scotland have published resources detailing learnings from working with select datasets. Discover these resources on the ADR UK Data Explained webpage or through the links below.

Exploring context, factors and approaches to educational exclusions and absences (October 2023). This Data Explained resource summarises learning from working with education, health and census datasets for the linkage and research project. This publication is intended to help guide future researchers using this data and to provide feedback into future dataset development and documentation.
Scottish Government's Looked After Children Longitudinal Dataset (April 2023). This Data Explained resource provides an outline of the Looked After Children longitudinal dataset and details the variables available, issues within the dataset, and current processes for data access.

National Data Catalogue (NDC)

The National Data Catalogue is published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and provides information on Scottish health and social care datasets.

The NDC comprises a data dictionary, a full list of national datasets held by Public Health Scotland and a “New Developments” section listing up and coming datasets.

Scottish Medical Imaging Service

While not directly involved in its creation, RDS has been supportive of the Scottish Medical Imaging (SMI) Service, which launched in beta mode in 2022. The Service is now fully functional, with a small number of high-impact research studies already underway, and aims to continually develop and grow in the coming years.

The SMI Service has been established to help declutter access to national imaging data for research in Scotland by providing a single user journey for researchers. It provides information about the imaging data landscape and how to access the data, what timescales are likely to be encountered and the information that a researcher needs to provide to gain access to these data sets.

The SMI Service has been developed and funded by the Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Efficient and Effective Use of Clinical Images in Big Data Health Research Project. RDS will continue to highlight the SMI service and its unique offering to researchers as the service develops.

Learn more about the SMI service on the Public Health Scotland website.

Other resources

HDR UK Innovation Gateway – Contains information on more than 750 health-related datasets in the UK. Through the Gateway, researchers can discover, curate and request access to health datasets, tools and resources.
UK Data Service – Lists information on and access requirements for social science data in the UK, including both secure and open data as well as teaching datasets. Researchers can browse data by theme, type or geography.
ONS Secure Research Service (SRS) – Allows researchers to search for and request access to de-identified unpublished data on economic, social and population statistics in the UK (including census data) to use in research for the public good.
Scottish Government Open Data Platform – Managed by the Scottish Government, this site provides public access to the data behind Scotland’s official statistics in linked open data format. Statistics are provided from a variety of organisations such as the Scottish Government, National Records of Scotland, NHS Information Services Division and Transport Scotland.
Scottish Longitudinal Study Data Dictionary – Contains full variable information and advanced search options for the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS), a large-scale linkage study created using data from administrative and statistical sources.
Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH) (Aberdeen) – A TRE established by the University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian to allow for the secure processing and linking of health, social care and other administrative data for the Grampian and Scottish population.
Health Informatics Centre (HIC) (Dundee) – A TRE for the Scottish Government and the NHS Tayside, NHS Fife and NHS Forth Valley Health Boards delivering secure, research-managed access to data under robust governance control.
DataLoch (Edinburgh) – Developed in partnership by the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian, DataLoch supports health and social care priorities by bringing together health and social care data for the South-East Scotland region and provides secure access to data extracts for researchers, as well as supporting requests from the NHS.
West of Scotland Safe Haven (Glasgow) – A collaboration between NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (NHSGGC) Research & Innovation and the Robertson Centre for Biostatistics, the West of Scotland Safe Haven provides a secure environment for hosting data projects and providing data linkage services to diverse NHS Scotland health data sources.