Beyond the data management plan: Expanding roles for librarians in data science and open science

In this paper we study the changes in academic library services inspired by the Open Science movement and especially the changes prompted from Open Data as a founding part of Open Science. We argue that academic libraries face the even bigger challenges for accommodating and providing support for Open Big Data composed from existing raw data sets and new massive sets generated from data driven research. Ensuring the veracity of Open Big Data is a complex problem dominated by data science. For academic libraries, that challenge triggers not only the expansion of traditional library services, but also leads to adoption of a set of new roles and responsibilities. That includes, but is not limited to development of the supporting models for Research Data Management, providing Data Management Plan assistance, expanding the qualifications of library personnel toward data science literacy, integration of the library services into research and educational process by taking part in research grants and many others. We outline several approaches taken by some academic libraries and by libraries at the City University of New York (CUNY) to meet necessities imposed by doing research and education with Open Big Data – from changes in libraries’ administrative structure, changes in personnel qualifications and duties, leading the interdisciplinary advisory groups, to active collaboration in principal projects.

Download Full-text

ELIXIR Software Management Plan for Life Sciences

10.37044/osf.io/k8znb ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Renato Alves ◽

Dimitrios Bampalikis ◽

Leyla Jael Castro ◽

José María Fernández ◽

Jennifer Harrow ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Open Source Software ◽

Open Science ◽

Management Plan ◽

Software Management ◽

Research Software ◽

Management Perspective ◽

Management Plans ◽

Machine Readable ◽

Future Plans

Data Management Plans are now considered a key element of Open Science. They describe the data management life cycle for the data to be collected, processed and/or generated within the lifetime of a particular project or activity. A Software Manag ement Plan (SMP) plays the same role but for software. Beyond its management perspective, the main advantage of an SMP is that it both provides clear context to the software that is being developed and raises awareness. Although there are a few SMPs already available, most of them require significant technical knowledge to be effectively used. ELIXIR has developed a low-barrier SMP, specifically tailored for life science researchers, aligned to the FAIR Research Software principles. Starting from the Four Recommendations for Open Source Software, the ELIXIR SMP was iteratively refined by surveying the practices of the community and incorporating the received feedback. Currently available as a survey, future plans of the ELIXIR SMP include a human- and machine-readable version, that can be automatically queried and connected to relevant tools and metrics within the ELIXIR Tools ecosystem and beyond.

Download Full-text

Plano de gestão de dados fair: uma proposta para a Fiocruz | Fair data management plan: a proposal for Fiocruz

Liinc em Revista ◽

10.18617/liinc.v15i2.5030 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Viviane Santos de Oliveira Veiga ◽

Patricia Henning ◽

Simone Dib ◽

Erick Penedo ◽

Jefferson Da Costa Lima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Data Management ◽

Open Science ◽

Management Plan ◽

Research Data ◽

Research Institutions ◽

Research Data Management ◽

Management Plans ◽

Fair Principles

RESUMO Este artigo trás para discussão o papel dos planos de gestão de dados como instrumento facilitador da gestão dos dados durante todo o ciclo de vida da pesquisa. A abertura de dados de pesquisa é pauta prioritária nas agendas científicas, por ampliar tanto a visibilidade e transparência das investigações, como a capacidade de reprodutibilidade e reuso dos dados em novas pesquisas. Nesse contexto, os princípios FAIR, um acrônimo para ‘Findable’, ‘Accessible’, ‘Interoperable’ e ‘Reusable’ é fundamental por estabelecerem orientações basilares e norteadoras na gestão, curadoria e preservação dos dados de pesquisa direcionados para o compartilhamento e o reuso. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma proposta de template de Plano de Gestão de Dados, alinhado aos princípios FAIR, para a Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. A metodologia utilizada é de natureza bibliográfica e de análise documental de diversos planos de gestão de dados europeus. Concluímos que a adoção de um plano de gestão nas práticas cientificas de universidades e instituições de pesquisa é fundamental. No entanto, para tirar maior proveito dessa atividade é necessário contar com a participação de todos os atores envolvidos no processo, além disso, esse plano de gestão deve ser machine-actionable, ou seja, acionável por máquina.Palavras-chave: Plano de Gestão de Dados; Dado de Pesquisa; Princípios FAIR; PGD Acionável por Máquina; Ciência Aberta.ABSTRACT This article proposes to discuss the role of data management plans as a tool to facilitate data management during researches life cycle. Today, research data opening is a primary agenda at scientific agencies as it may boost investigations’ visibility and transparency as well as the ability to reproduce and reuse its data on new researches. Within this context, FAIR principles, an acronym for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, is paramount, as it establishes basic and guiding orientations for research data management, curatorship and preservation with an intent on its sharing and reuse. The current work intends to present to the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz a new Data Management Plan template proposal, aligned with FAIR principles. The methodology used is bibliographical research and documental analysis of several European data management plans. We conclude that the adoption of a management plan on universities and research institutions scientific activities is paramount. However, to be fully benefited from this activity, all actors involved in the process must participate, and, on top of that, this plan must be machine-actionable.Keywords: Data Management Plan; Research Data; FAIR Principles; DMP Machine-Actionable; Open Science.

Download Full-text

Information Integration for Machine Actionable Data Management Plans

International Journal of Digital Curation ◽

10.2218/ijdc.v12i1.529 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 22-35 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Tomasz Miksa ◽

Andreas Rauber ◽

Roman Ganguly ◽

Paolo Budroni

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Information Integration ◽

Open Science ◽

Management Plan ◽

Reproducible Research ◽

Free Form ◽

Text Documents ◽

Data Repositories ◽

Standard Data ◽

Management Plans

Data management plans are free-form text documents describing the data used and produced in scientific experiments. The complexity of data-driven experiments requires precise descriptions of tools and datasets used in computations to enable their reproducibility and reuse. Data management plans fall short of these requirements. In this paper, we propose machine-actionable data management plans that cover the same themes as standard data management plans, but particular sections are filled with information obtained from existing tools. We present mapping of tools from the domains of digital preservation, reproducible research, open science, and data repositories to data management plan sections. Thus, we identify the requirements for a good solution and identify its limitations. We also propose a machine-actionable data model that enables information integration. The model uses ontologies and is based on existing standards.

Download Full-text

The Open-Specimen Movement

BioScience ◽

10.1093/biosci/biaa146 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jocelyn P Colella ◽

Ryan B Stephens ◽

Mariel L Campbell ◽

Brooks A Kohli ◽

Danielle J Parsons ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Open Data ◽

Open Science ◽

Management Plan ◽

Scientific Data ◽

Primary Data ◽

Explicit Integration ◽

Cultural Shift ◽

Major Barrier ◽

Annual Reporting

Abstract The open-science movement seeks to increase transparency, reproducibility, and access to scientific data. As primary data, preserved biological specimens represent records of global biodiversity critical to research, conservation, national security, and public health. However, a recent decrease in specimen preservation in public biorepositories is a major barrier to open biological science. As such, there is an urgent need for a cultural shift in the life sciences that normalizes specimen deposition in museum collections. Museums embody an open-science ethos and provide long-term research infrastructure through curation, data management and security, and community-wide access to samples and data, thereby ensuring scientific reproducibility and extension. We propose that a paradigm shift from specimen ownership to specimen stewardship can be achieved through increased open-data requirements among scientific journals and institutional requirements for specimen deposition by funding and permitting agencies, and through explicit integration of specimens into existing data management plan guidelines and annual reporting.

Download Full-text

Methods for Open and Reproducible Materials Science

10.31235/osf.io/ag8zu ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Sara L Wilson ◽

Micah Altman ◽

Rafael Jaramillo

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Data Science ◽

Management Practices ◽

Materials Science ◽

Critical Role ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Open Science ◽

Manuscript Submission ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Data Stewardship

Data stewardship in experimental materials science is increasingly complex and important. Progress in data science and inverse-design of materials give reason for optimism that advances can be made if appropriate data resources are made available. Data stewardship also plays a critical role in maintaining broad support for research in the face of well-publicized replication failures (in different fields) and frequently changing attitudes, norms, and sponsor requirements for open science. The present-day data management practices and attitudes in materials science are not well understood. In this article, we collect information on the practices of a selection of materials scientists at two leading universities, using a semi-structured interview instrument. An analysis of these interviews reveals that although data management is universally seen as important, data management practices vary widely. Based on this analysis, we conjecture that broad adoption of basic file-level data sharing at the time of manuscript submission would benefit the field without imposing substantial burdens on researchers. More comprehensive solutions for lifecycle open research in materials science will have to overcome substantial differences in attitudes and practices.

Download Full-text

Solving legal puzzles is not easy – supporting creating Data Management Plans in three scientific disciplines: chemistry, economics, and civil engineering

Septentrio Conference Series ◽

10.7557/5.5576 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Magdalena Szuflita-Żurawska ◽

Anna Wałek

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Civil Engineering ◽

Academic Staff ◽

Open Science ◽

Management Plan ◽

Research Data ◽

Academic Community ◽

Legal Issues ◽

Scientific Disciplines ◽

Management Plans

Open Science Competence Center at the Gdańsk University of Technology Library was established upon the Bridge of Data project at the end of 2018. Our main goals include providing support for the academic community for broad issues associated with Open Science, especially with Open Research Data. Our team of professionals help researchers in many topics such as: "what kinds of data you need to share", "how to make your data openly available to others", or "how to create a Data Management Plan" – that recently has been the most popular and demanding service. One of the main challenges to support academic staff with Data Management Plans is dealing with the legal impediments to provide open access and reusing of research data for publicly funded scientific projects. The lack of understanding the legal issues in opening research is a significant barrier to facilitate Open Science. Much public-funded research requires to prepare a Data Management Plan that, among other items, provides information about ownership and user rights. One of the most common activity for scholars is choosing which license (if any) they are supposed to use in terms of the dissemination the scientific output. However, in many cases, resolving the right license for research data is not enough. Academic staff faces many tensions with a lack of clarity around legal requirements and obstacles. The increasing researchers' need for understanding and describing conflicting issues (e.g. patenting) results in looking for professional and knowledgeable support at the university. We examine the most frequent legal issues arising among DMPs from the three scientific disciplines: chemistry (e.g. ethical papers), economics (e.g. data value cycle), and civil engineering (e.g. complexity of construction data). In our presentation, we would like to introduce the main identified problems and show how mapping and benchmarking occurring problems among those disciplines help us to establish more efficient legal support for researchers.

Download Full-text

Dealing with Data: Science Librarians’ Participation in Data Management at Association of Research Libraries Institutions

College & Research Libraries ◽

10.5860/crl.75.4.557 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 75 (4) ◽

pp. 557-574 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Karen Antell ◽

Jody Bales Foote ◽

Jaymie Turner ◽

Brian Shults

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Academic Libraries ◽

Data Science ◽

Management Plan ◽

Funding Agency ◽

Management Support ◽

Data Repositories ◽

Institutional Repositories ◽

Research Libraries ◽

Association Of Research Libraries

As long as empirical research has existed, researchers have been doing “data management” in one form or another. However, funding agency mandates for doing formal data management are relatively recent, and academic libraries’ involvement has been concentrated mainly in the last few years. The National Science Foundation implemented a new mandate in January 2011, requiring researchers to include a data management plan with their proposals for funding. This has prompted many academic libraries to work more actively than before in data management, and science librarians in particular are uniquely poised to step into new roles to meet researchers’ data management needs. This study, a survey of science librarians at institutions affiliated with the Association of Research Libraries, investigates science librarians’ awareness of and involvement in institutional repositories, data repositories, and data management support services at their institutions. The study also explores the roles and responsibilities, both new and traditional, that science librarians have assumed related to data management, and the skills that science librarians believe are necessary to meet the demands of data management work. The results reveal themes of both uncertainty and optimism—uncertainty about the roles of librarians, libraries, and other campus entities; uncertainty about the skills that will be required; but also optimism about applying “traditional” librarian skills to this emerging field of academic librarianship.

Download Full-text

An analysis of pollution Citizen Science projects from the perspective of Data Science and Open Science

Data Technologies and Applications ◽

10.1108/dta-10-2020-0253 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Dumitru Roman ◽

Neal Reeves ◽

Esteban Gonzalez ◽

Irene Celino ◽

Shady Abd El Kader ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Management ◽

Citizen Science ◽

Data Science ◽

Contextual Information ◽

Software Tool ◽

Open Science ◽

Full Potential ◽

Content Type ◽

Science Projects ◽

Research Problems

PurposeCitizen Science – public participation in scientific projects – is becoming a global practice engaging volunteer participants, often non-scientists, with scientific research. Citizen Science is facing major challenges, such as quality and consistency, to reap open the full potential of its outputs and outcomes, including data, software and results. In this context, the principles put forth by Data Science and Open Science domains are essential for alleviating these challenges, which have been addressed at length in these domains. The purpose of this study is to explore the extent to which Citizen Science initiatives capitalise on Data Science and Open Science principles.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed 48 Citizen Science projects related to pollution and its effects. They compared each project against a set of Data Science and Open Science indicators, exploring how each project defines, collects, analyses and exploits data to present results and contribute to knowledge.FindingsThe results indicate several shortcomings with respect to commonly accepted Data Science principles, including lack of a clear definition of research problems and limited description of data management and analysis processes, and Open Science principles, including lack of the necessary contextual information for reusing project outcomes.Originality/valueIn the light of this analysis, the authors provide a set of guidelines and recommendations for better adoption of Data Science and Open Science principles in Citizen Science projects, and introduce a software tool to support this adoption, with a focus on preparation of data management plans in Citizen Science projects.

Download Full-text

Using Active Learning Classrooms in Building an Infrastructure for Access to Research Data

Septentrio Conference Series ◽

10.7557/5.4538 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Stefan Ekman ◽

Helena Francke

Keyword(s):

Active Learning ◽

Data Management ◽

Collaborative Work ◽

Data Access ◽

Open Science ◽

Management Plan ◽

Research Data ◽

Management Skills ◽

National Network ◽

Institutional Conditions

Watch the VIDEO.As a central part of its work towards Open Science, Sweden is building an infrastructure for managing, storing, and providing access to research data. A vital component of this infrastructure will be functions at Swedish universities for supporting researchers with data access and management. To support these local functions, here referred to as Data Access Units (DAUs), a national network of DAUs from 28 universities is under formation.To assist in establishing DAUs and strengthening the network, the Swedish National Data Service and the University of Borås offer a joint professional development course to DAU staff. This course ran for the first time in spring 2018, with 21 participants from 12 universities. The course has three main objectives: to develop data management skills; to increase understanding of the institutional conditions for providing access to research data; and to strengthen the national network through interpersonal connections and collegial ties.The methodology chosen for the course is intended to promote collaboration between participants and to take into consideration their various types and levels of expertise and experience. This has resulted in a distance-learning course with four physical meetings, during which an Active Learning Classroom (ALC) methodology is used: participants work actively in groups with instructor-facilitated tasks. The ALC work is combined with significant use of collaborative work between meetings.Our presentation will show how ALC methodology can be used to support the establishment of DAUs and a DAU network. We will discuss some examples of course elements which contribute to the objectives. The discussion will be based on the facilitators’ analyses and on the participants’ answers to an evaluation questionnaire.Participants found that they developed data management skills by working with cases as ALC exercises, and thought these skills would be directly applicable to their work in the DAU. Such ALC exercises were designed around for instance anonymising datasets and writing a data management plan for a potential study.In addressing institutional conditions necessary for data access, we observed how task design and perceived relevance of a topic are important for how participants engage with various aspects of a task. For example, the ALC exercise on legal frameworks was easier to align with perceived DAU needs than the less focused and more abstract exercise on models and principles such as OAIS and FAIR.A clear outcome of the course was a strengthening of the DAU network. Participants gained a sense of collegiality by working in different constellations during various ALC tasks. The social activities – breaks and meals – intentionally included in the course also allowed classroom discussions to flow into more informal spaces.The DAUs and their national network is a vital part of the Swedish infrastructure for Open Science concerning access to research data. The presentation will end with reflections on how ALC methodology can also be employed to strengthen data management and accessibility skills in other parts of the infrastructure, for instance with researchers.

Download Full-text