Researchers depositing data from their project that were obtained from another source should identify the original source as well as the researcher's right to distribute the data.
I have often seen the verb deposit with money referring to "to put money into a bank account" and several other similar meanings. But, I am wondering what the author means in the above-mentioned paragraph by depositing data.
The original passage is from a data sharing and archiving protocol guide from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research in the Netherlands.
"Some projects may combine data from one or more secondary sources. Derived datasets created by collating materials from existing sources and presenting them in a new way could constitute a new dataset. A project may also be considered to be producing a new dataset if it combines (a) primary and secondary data; (b) secondary data with newly created variables; or (c) secondary data based on data that are not yet publicly available. If the project meets any of the above conditions and would be useful to other researchers in supporting new research, reproducing original findings, or testing new hypotheses, then archiving the dataset should be considered. Researchers depositing data from their project that were obtained from another source should identify the original source as well as the researcher’s right to distribute the data."
The word deposit is used as a verb. The first definition of that form means to "put", specifically "in a specific place". Therefore:
"Researchers [putting] data from their project [into a new project] that were obtained from another source should identify the original source as well as the researcher's right to distribute the data."
Reading the guide, it is obvious that it was not written by native-English speakers. Nevertheless, the word deposit was used appropriately and consistent with one of its dictionary definition.
To deposit data would mean the placement of said data to somewhere, whether it is a person, institution or database. In this instance, the word "depositing" can be substituted with "submitting" to aid in the understanding of the meaning.
