A Review of Open Research Data Policies and Practices in China

Authors: Lili Zhang, Robert R. Downs, Jianhui Li, Liangming Wen, Chengzan Li

This paper initially conducts a literature review and content analysis of the open research data policies in China. Next, a series of exemplars describe data practices to promote and enable the use of open research data, including open data practices in research programs, data repositories, data journals, and citizen science.

Moreover, the top four driving forces are identified and analyzed along with their responsible guiding work. In addition, the “landscape of open research data ecology in China” is derived from the literature review and from observations of actual cases, where the interaction and mutual development of data policies, data programs, and data practices are recognized.

Finally, future trends of research data practices within China and internationally are discussed. We hope the analysis provides perspective on current open data practices in China along with insight into the need for additional research on scientific data sharing and management.

URL : A Review of Open Research Data Policies and Practices in China

DOI : http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2021-003

Research Data Management (RDM) at the University of Ghana (UG) : Myth or Reality?

Author : Bright Kwaku Avuglah

This article explores Research Data Management (RDM) at the University of Ghana (UG). It emphasises on institutional awareness and attitudes, and whether the University Library is officially supporting this emerging strategic interest in research focused Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

Purposive sampling was used to select information-rich respondents from across the University (i.e. Librarians, Research Administrators, ICT Managers and Senior Researchers) who were interviewed on a range of issues about RDM.

Institutional documents were also reviewed to corroborate the primary data and get a deeper understanding of the research problem. The study shows that while RDM is recognised at the institutional level as good research practice and integrity issue, the concept is tenuously understood in the local community.

Unsurprisingly, however, there was a general appreciation and awareness of the need for RDM and the implications for such critical concerns as security, integrity, continuity and institutional reputation.

The library is yet to take a strategic approach to RDM issues and there is clearly a dearth in RDM expertise within the library system.

The study recommends that the library must be proactive in advocating and promoting RDM issues at UG, but first, the Librarians must take advantage of numerous existing opportunities to build their capacity.

URL : Research Data Management (RDM) at the University of Ghana (UG) : Myth or Reality?

DOI : https://doi.org/10.2218/ijdc.v15i1.670

Role of a Croatian National Repository Infrastructure in Promotion and Support of Research Data Management

Authors : Kristina Posavec, Draženko Celjak, Ljiljana Jertec Musap

The paper will give an overview of national infrastructure for digital repositories, Digital Academic Archives and Repositories (DABAR), and its role as technology steward in raising awareness about research data management (RDM) and promoting good practices in the Croatian A&R community.

The University of Zagreb, University Computing Centre (SRCE) is providing national infrastructure DABAR suitable for storing and dissemination of different types of digital objects. Through DABAR, all Croatian higher education and research institutions can establish their digital repository.

A strong collaboration between SRCEs DABAR team and institutions repository managers has proven to be important in the process of disseminating knowledge about research data management among researchers and the scientific community at large.

The paper will provide information about this collaboration during the project RDA Europe 4.0 – The European plug-in to the global Research Data Alliance (RDA). The main goal of this collaboration is to raise awareness about the importance of managing and sharing research data.

URL : Role of a Croatian National Repository Infrastructure in Promotion and Support of Research Data Management

DOI : http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-048

Investigation and Development of the Workflow to Clarify Conditions of Use for Research Data Publishing in Japan

Authors : Yasuyuki Minamiyama, Ui Ikeuchi, Kunihiko Ueshima, Nobuya Okayama, Hideaki Takeda

With the recent Open Science movement and the rise of data-intensive science, many efforts are in progress to publish research data on the web. To reuse published research data in different fields, they must be made more generalized, interoperable, and machine-readable.

Among the various issues related to data publishing, the conditions of use are directly related to their reuse potential. We show herein the types of external constraints and conditions of use in research data publishing in a Japanese context through the analysis of the interview and questionnaire for practitioners.

Although the conditions of research data use have been discussed only in terms of their legal constraints, we organize the inclusion of the non-legal constraints and data holders’ actual requirements.

Furthermore, we develop practical guideline for examining effective data publishing flow with licensing scenarios. This effort can be positioned to develop an infrastructure for data-intensive science, which will contribute to the realization of Open Science.

URL : Investigation and Development of the Workflow to Clarify Conditions of Use for Research Data Publishing in Japan

DOI : http://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-053

Research Data Sharing in Spain: Exploring Determinants, Practices, and Perceptions

Authors : Rafael Aleixandre-Benavent, Antonio Vidal-Infer, Adolfo Alonso-Arroyo, Fernanda Peset, Antonia Ferrer Sapena

This work provides an overview of a Spanish survey on research data, which was carried out within the framework of the project Datasea at the beginning of 2015. It is covered by the objectives of sustainable development (goal 9) to support the research.

The purpose of the study was to identify the habits and current experiences of Spanish researchers in the health sciences in relation to the management and sharing of raw research data. Method: An electronic questionnaire composed of 40 questions divided into three blocks was designed.

The three Section s contained questions on the following aspects: (A) personal information; (B) creation and reuse of data; and (C) preservation of data. The questionnaire was sent by email to a list of universities in Spain to be distributed among their researchers and professors. A total of 1063 researchers completed the questionnaire.

More than half of the respondents (54.9%) lacked a data management plan; nearly a quarter had storage systems for the research group; 81.5% used personal computers to store data; “Contact with colleagues” was the most frequent means used to locate and access other researchers’ data; and nearly 60% of researchers stated their data were available to the research group and collaborating colleagues.

The main fears about sharing were legal questions (47.9%), misuse or interpretation of data (42.7%), and loss of authorship (28.7%).

The results allow us to understand the state of data sharing among Spanish researchers and can serve as a basis to identify the needs of researchers to share data, optimize existing infrastructure, and promote data sharing among those who do not practice it yet.

URL : Research Data Sharing in Spain: Exploring Determinants, Practices, and Perceptions

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3390/data5020029

Scientific data management in the federal government: A case study of NOAA and responsibility for preserving digital data

Authors : Adam Kriesberg, Jacob Kowall

In this paper, we examine the ways in which the evolution of federal and agency‐specific data management policies has affected and continues to affect the long‐term preservation of digital scientific data produced by the United States government.

After reviewing the existing literature on the role of archival theory and practice in the preservation of scientific data, we present the case of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to analyze how data management activities at this agency are shaped by legislative mandates as well as both government‐wide and agency‐specific information‐management policies.

Through the connected network of law, federal policy, agency policy, and the records schedules which govern recordkeeping practice in the federal government, we propose a number of further questions on how government agencies can effectively provide for the management of scientific data as federal records.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.266

Built to last! Embedding open science principles and practice into European universities

Authors : Tiberius Ignat, Paul Ayris

The purpose of this article is to examine the cultural change needed by universities, as identified by LERU in its report Open Science and its role in universities: a roadmap for cultural change.

It begins by illustrating the nature of that cultural change. Linked to that transformation is a necessary management change to the way in which organizations perform research. Competition is not the only, or necessarily the best, way to conduct this transformation.

Open science brings to the fore the values of collaboration and sharing. Building on a number of Focus on Open Science Workshops held over five years across Europe, the article identifies best practice in changing current research practices, which will then contribute to the culture change necessary to deliver open science.

Four case studies, delivered at Focus on Open Science Workshops or other conferences in Europe, illustrate the advances that are being made: the findings of a Workshop on Collaboration and Competition at the OAI 11 meeting in Geneva in June 2019; alternative publishing platforms, exemplified by UCL Press; open data, FAIR data and reproducibility; and a Citizen Science Workshop held at the LIBER Conference in Dublin in June 2019.

URL : Built to last! Embedding open science principles and practice into European universities

DOI : http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.501