Research data management: overview of benefits and drivers

Laura MolloyDigital Curation Centre

Laura.Molloy@glasgow.ac.uk

The DCC missionwww.dcc.ac.uk

What is research data management and curation?

Active management, adding value and maintaining access to research data over the course of its scholarly lifecycle.

What is driving this agenda in the UK?

• Several factors making RDM a key issue for many UK HEIs

• These factors are international and are affecting research practice in many countries (US, Canada, Australia, EU…)

Managing research data – some historical context

declarationdata are a public good and should be openly

available (2004);

Led to this publication (2007):

Digital data as the new special

collections?

Sayeed Choudhury, Johns Hopkins

Benefits of data sharing (1)

www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/health/research/13alzheimer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

“It was unbelievable. Its not science the way most of us have practiced in our careers. But we all realised that we would never get biomarkers unless all of us parked our egos and intellectual property noses outside the door and agreed that all of our data would be public immediately.”

Dr John Trojanowski, University of Pennsylvania

... scientific breakthroughs

Benefits of data sharing (2)

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/18/uncovered-error-george-osborne-austerity

... validation of results

“It was a mistake in a spreadsheet that could have been easily overlooked: a few rows left out of an equation to average the values in a column.

The spreadsheet was used to draw the conclusion of an influential 2010 economics paper: that public debt of more than 90% of GDP slows down growth. This conclusion was later cited by the International Monetary Fund and the UK Treasury to justify programmes of austerity that have arguably led to riots, poverty and lost jobs.”

Benefits of data sharing (3)

“There is evidence that studies that make their data available do indeed receive more citations

than similar studies that do not.” Piwowar H. and Vision T.J 2013 "Data reuse and the open data citation advantage“ https://peerj.com/preprints/1.pdf

9% - 30% increase

... more citations

Data management planning: can help guard against data loss and damage

http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2011/08/01/why-you-need-a-data-management-plan

Plus direct benefits to individuals

Funders’ expectations of public access

“Publicly funded research data are a public good, produced in the public interest, which should be

made openly available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner that

does not harm intellectual property.”

RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy (2011)http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/datapolicy/

Drivers in UK research

Code of Good Research Conduct (2009): Data should be preserved and accessible for 10 years+

RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy (2011): http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/datapolicy/

Which funders are RCUK?AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC, STFC

Priority: making research data available to users.

DCC resources: Research funder data policies summary

www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/ overview-funders-data-policies

DCC resources: Overview of each funder’s policy

• Links to data & publications policies

• Summary of main stipulations

• Pointers to support

www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/funders-data-policies

Generally, funders expect:

• timely release of data- once patents are filed or on (acceptance for) publication

• open data sharing- minimal or no restrictions if possible. Any restrictions well-justified.

• preservation of data- typically 5-10+ years for data of long-term value

• data management plans • created, used (and sometimes submitted!)

Thanks for listening!

DCC guidance, tools and case studies:www.dcc.ac.uk/resources

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