| Research Data Center of the Federal Statistical Office (FDZ-Bund) | Research Data Center of the Statistical Offices of the Länder (FDZ-Länder) |
| Research Data Center of the Federal Employment Agency at the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (FDZ-IAB) | Research Data Center of the German Pension Insurance (FDZ-RV) |
| Research Data Center of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB-FDZ) | Research Data Center (FDZ) of the Institut for Educational Progress (IQB) |
| Research Data Center of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (FDZ-SOEP) | The Research Data Centre ALLBUS at GESIS |
| The Research Data Center "International Survey Programmes" at GESIS |
Research Data Center "Elections" at GESIS |
| SHARE Research Data Center | Research Data Centre of the German Ageing Survey (FDZ-DEAS) |
| The Research Data Center PsychData of the Leibniz-Institute for Psychology Information (ZPID) |
| GESIS' Service Centre for Microdata at GESIS-ZUMA / MISSY | International Data Service Center of the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) |
Valid and reliable data provide the essential foundation for research in the social and economic sciences, ensuring that it is in line with contemporary realities. The Research Data Centers represent the attempt to establish a model for a new form of data access—made possible by startup funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung)—that allows the empirical sciences to work with data from official statistics and other important data producers in the public sector.
Research Data Centers make individual data accessible for scientific research by and large through the creation of factually anonymized data sets (Scientific Use Files) released to research institutions. In exceptional cases, where research concerns particularly sensitive data, or where it is not possible to adequately anonymize data without the loss of information, data access is possible through the creation of workplaces for guest researchers at specific Research Data Centers, or through the development of a system for controlled remote data access.
Data Service Centers are designed to facilitate empirical research in the social and economic sciences. They are charged with implementing a broad range of services, including improved data documentation that meets scientific requirements, the construction of a metadata portal, and the provision of trained support for data users.
