A study of the roles of metadata standard and data repository in science, technology, engineering and mathematics researchers' data reuse

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngseek Kim
Keyword(s):  
Data Reuse ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Scientific Communities ◽  
Metadata Standard ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Metadata Standards ◽  
And Mathematics

PurposeThis research investigates how the availabilities of both metadata standards and data repositories influence researchers' data reuse intentions either directly or indirectly as mediated by the norms of data reuse and their attitudes toward data reuse.Design/methodology/approachThe theory of planned behavior (TPB) was employed to develop the research model of researchers' data reuse intentions, focusing on the roles of metadata standards, data repositories and norms of data reuse. The proposed research model was evaluated using the structural equation modeling (SEM) method based on the survey responses received from 811 STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) researchers in the United States.FindingsThis research found that the availabilities of both metadata standards and data repositories significantly affect STEM researchers' norm of data reuse, which influences their data reuse intentions as mediated by their attitudes toward data reuse. This research also found that both the availability of data repositories and the norm of data reuse have a direct influence on data reuse intentions and that norm of data reuse significantly increases the effect of attitude toward data reuse on data reuse intention as a moderator.Research limitations/implicationsThe modified model of TPB provides a new perspective in apprehending the roles of resource facilitating conditions such as the availabilities of metadata standards and data repositories in an individual's attitude, norm and their behavioral intention to conduct a certain behavior.Practical implicationsThis study suggests that scientific communities need to develop more supportive metadata standards and data repositories by considering their roles in enhancing the community norm of data reuse, which eventually lead to data reuse behaviors.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the mechanism of metadata standard and data repository in researchers' data reuse behaviors through their community norm of data reuse; this can help scientific communities and academic institutions to better support researchers in their data sharing and reuse behaviors.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-09-2020-0431

Internet researchers’ data sharing behaviors

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngseek Kim ◽  
Seungahn Nah
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Behaviors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how data reuse experience, attitudinal beliefs, social norms, and resource factors influence internet researchers to share data with other researchers outside their teams. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted to examine the extent to which data reuse experience, attitudinal beliefs, social norms, and resource factors predicted internet researchers’ data sharing intentions and behaviors. The theorized model was tested using a structural equation modeling technique to analyze a total of 201 survey responses from the Association of Internet Researchers mailing list. Findings Results show that data reuse experience significantly influenced participants’ perception of benefit from data sharing and participants’ norm of data sharing. Belief structures regarding data sharing, including perceived career benefit and risk, and perceived effort, had significant associations with attitude toward data sharing, leading internet researchers to have greater data sharing intentions and behavior. The results also reveal that researchers’ norms for data sharing had a direct effect on data sharing intention. Furthermore, the results indicate that, while the perceived availability of data repository did not yield a positive impact on data sharing intention, it has a significant, direct, positive impact on researchers’ data sharing behaviors. Research limitations/implications This study validated its novel theorized model based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The study showed a holistic picture of how different data sharing factors, including data reuse experience, attitudinal beliefs, social norms, and data repositories, influence internet researchers’ data sharing intentions and behaviors. Practical implications Data reuse experience, attitude toward and norm of data sharing, and the availability of data repository had either direct or indirect influence on internet researchers’ data sharing behaviors. Thus, professional associations, funding agencies, and academic institutions alike should promote academic cultures that value data sharing in order to create a virtuous cycle of reciprocity and encourage researchers to have positive attitudes toward/norms of data sharing; these cultures should be strengthened by the strong support of data repositories. Originality/value In line with prior scholarship concerning scientific data sharing, this study of internet researchers offers a map of scientific data sharing intentions and behaviors by examining the impacts of data reuse experience, attitudinal beliefs, social norms, and data repositories together.

scholarly journals Data matters: how earth and environmental scientists determine data relevance and reusability

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela P. Murillo
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Data Record ◽  
Information Professionals ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the information needs of earth and environmental scientists regarding how they determine data reusability and relevance. Additionally, this study provides strategies for the development of data collections and recommendations for data management and curation for information professionals working alongside researchers. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a multi-phase mixed-method approach. The test environment is the DataONE data repository. Phase 1 includes a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of deposited data. Phase 2 consists of a quasi-experiment think-aloud study. This paper reports mainly on Phase 2. Findings This study identifies earth and environmental scientists’ information needs to determine data reusability. The findings include a need for information regarding research methods, instruments and data descriptions when determining data reusability, as well as a restructuring of data abstracts. Additional findings include reorganizing of the data record layout and data citation information. Research limitations/implications While this study was limited to earth and environmental science data, the findings provide feedback for scientists in other disciplines, as earth and environmental science is a highly interdisciplinary scientific domain that pulls from many disciplines, including biology, ecology and geology, and additionally there has been a significant increase in interdisciplinary research in many scientific fields. Practical implications The practical implications include concrete feedback to data librarians, data curators and repository managers, as well as other information professionals as to the information needs of scientists reusing data. The suggestions could be implemented to improve consultative practices when working alongside scientists regarding data deposition and data creation. These suggestions could improve policies for data repositories through direct feedback from scientists. These suggestions could be implemented to improve how data repositories are created and what should be considered mandatory information and secondary information to improve the reusability of data. Social implications By examining the information needs of earth and environmental scientists reusing data, this study provides feedback that could change current practices in data deposition, which ultimately could improve the potentiality of data reuse. Originality/value While there has been research conducted on data sharing and reuse, this study provides more detailed granularity regarding what information is needed to determine reusability. This study sets itself apart by not focusing on social motivators and demotivators, but by focusing on information provided in a data record.

scholarly journals Are data repositories fettered? A survey of current practices, challenges and future technologies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nushrat Khan ◽  
Mike Thelwall ◽  
Kayvan Kousha
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Quality Checks ◽  
Current Practices

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore current practices, challenges and technological needs of different data repositories.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was designed for data repository managers, and contact information from the re3data, a data repository registry, was collected to disseminate the survey.FindingsIn total, 189 responses were received, including 47% discipline specific and 34% institutional data repositories. A total of 71% of the repositories reporting their software used bespoke technical frameworks, with DSpace, EPrint and Dataverse being commonly used by institutional repositories. Of repository managers, 32% reported tracking secondary data reuse while 50% would like to. Among data reuse metrics, citation counts were considered extremely important by the majority, followed by links to the data from other websites and download counts. Despite their perceived usefulness, repository managers struggle to track dataset citations. Most repository managers support dataset and metadata quality checks via librarians, subject specialists or information professionals. A lack of engagement from users and a lack of human resources are the top two challenges, and outreach is the most common motivator mentioned by repositories across all groups. Ensuring findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) data (49%), providing user support for research (36%) and developing best practices (29%) are the top three priorities for repository managers. The main recommendations for future repository systems are as follows: integration and interoperability between data and systems (30%), better research data management (RDM) tools (19%), tools that allow computation without downloading datasets (16%) and automated systems (16%).Originality/valueThis study identifies the current challenges and needs for improving data repository functionalities and user experiences.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0204

An exploratory study of health scientists’ data reuse behaviors

2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soohyung Joo ◽  
Sujin Kim ◽  
Youngseek Kim
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Support ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Health Science ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how health scientists’ attitudinal, social, and resource factors affect their data reuse behaviors. Design/methodology/approach A survey method was utilized to investigate to what extent attitudinal, social, and resource factors influence health scientists’ data reuse behaviors. The health scientists’ data reuse research model was validated by using partial least squares (PLS) based structural equation modeling technique with a total of 161 health scientists in the USA. Findings The analysis results showed that health scientists’ data reuse intentions are driven by attitude toward data reuse, community norm of data reuse, disciplinary research climate, and organizational support factors. This research also found that both perceived usefulness of data reuse and perceived concern involved in data reuse have significant influences on health scientists’ attitude toward data reuse. Research limitations/implications This research evaluated its newly proposed research model based on the theory of planned behavior using a sample from the community of scientists’ scholar database. This research showed an overall picture of how attitudinal, social, and resource factors influence health scientists’ data reuse behaviors. This research is limited due to its sample size and low response rate, so this study is considered as an exploratory study rather than a confirmatory study. Practical implications This research suggested for health science research communities, academic institutions, and libraries that diverse strategies need to be utilized to promote health scientists’ data reuse behaviors. Originality/value This research is one of initial studies in scientific data reuse which provided a holistic map about health scientists’ data sharing behaviors. The findings of this study provide the groundwork for strategies to facilitate data reuse practice in health science areas.

Fast fashion and the future

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom P. Abeles
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Current Effort ◽  
Fast Fashion ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The Future ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest that all of the systems, education, economic and social, are caught in an ever-increasing pace, tied in large part to a set of beliefs, largely economic, that resemble a religion and for which there appears to not be a rational option to escape. Design/methodology/approach – A study of systems. Findings – It is argued that we are at a tipping point where there are too many holes in the intellectual dike, that a shift in many dimensions may not be preventable. Practical implications – While “techno-futurists” are promoting this increasing evolution pace towards a transformational singularity, there appears to be no serious consideration that humanity may get its “wish” as did King Midas. Social implications – There is a serious question as to whether there can be, and should be, alternatives not cast into the frame of the Neo-Luddites. Originality/value – This is a contrarian view of the current effort to promote the educational focus on STEM, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, almost as a pre-cursor to being able to participate in a technology-driven societal model of the future.

A study of Open Access research data repositories developed by BRICS countries

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Safat Mushtaq Misgar ◽  
Ajra Bhat ◽  
Zahid Ashraf Wani
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Research Output ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Subject Coverage

Purpose In the present era, research data is a concern for researchers, as they are trying to find new ways to communicate their research findings and conclusions to other researchers in order to increase visibility and credibility. BRICS nations are fast emerging economies and contribute significantly in research output. This study makes an effort to analyze and explore the role of BRICS nations towards open access research data repository registered with Registry of Research Data Repositories. Design/methodology/approach The data were gathered from re3data repository, and the search was limited to BRICS nations. The data were further analyzed and tabulated as per set parameters, namely, country-wise distribution, types of contents, subject coverage and language diversity. Findings The findings depict that in terms of strength, India has the highest number of data repositories, thereby achieved the first rank among BRICS nations, and South Africa has the least number of data repositories, whereas in terms of content type and subject coverage, India again is leading among BRICS nations. The English language is used by repositories as the main language of the interface. Practical implications The study helps to understand the development of research data repositories by BRICS nations. The study is further beneficial to researchers, as Registry of Research Data Repository provides a single platform to access repositories from various disciplines. Readily available data saves time, money and efforts of researchers and helps the researcher in completing their research activity in a very short span of time. Originality/value The paper has investigated open access data repositories of BRICS nation that has not been attempted earlier. This gives readers comprehensive overview of research data repositories developed in fast emerging economies of the global. The paper can be very helpful for information managers, OA promoters and education and research policy makers to devise plans and policy bearing in mind the evolving research channels in emerging economies.

The role of data-reuse experience in biological scientists’ data sharing: an empirical analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 186-208
Author(s):  
Ayoung Yoon ◽  
Youngseek Kim
Keyword(s):  
Data Sharing ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Subjective Norms ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how scientists’ prior data-reuse experience affects their data-sharing intention by updating diverse attitudinal, control and normative beliefs about data sharing. Design/methodology/approach This paper used a survey method and the research model was evaluated by applying structural equation modelling to 476 survey responses from biological scientists in the USA. Findings The results show that prior data-reuse experience significantly increases the perceived community and career benefits and subjective norms of data sharing and significantly decreases the perceived risk and effort involved in data sharing. The perceived community benefits and subjective norms of data sharing positively influence scientists’ data-sharing intention, whereas the perceived risk and effort negatively influence scientists’ data-sharing intention. Research limitations/implications Based on the theory of planned behaviour, the research model was developed by connecting scientists’ prior data-reuse experience and data-sharing intention mediated through diverse attitudinal, control and normative perceptions of data sharing. Practical implications This research suggests that to facilitate scientists’ data-sharing behaviours, data reuse needs to be encouraged. Data sharing and reuse are interconnected, so scientists’ data sharing can be better promoted by providing them with data-reuse experience. Originality/value This is one of the initial studies examining the relationship between data-reuse experience and data-sharing behaviour, and it considered the following mediating factors: perceived community benefit, career benefit, career risk, effort and subjective norm of data sharing. This research provides an advanced investigation of data-sharing behaviour in the relationship with data-reuse experience and suggests significant implications for fostering data-sharing behaviour.

scholarly journals Usage Patterns of Open Genomic Data

2013 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingfeng Xia ◽  
Ying Liu
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Biomedical Sciences ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Genome Expression ◽  
Free Data ◽  
Usage Patterns

This paper uses Genome Expression Omnibus (GEO), a data repository in biomedical sciences, to examine the usage patterns of open data repositories. It attempts to identify the degree of recognition of data reuse value and understand how e-science has impacted a large-scale scholarship. By analyzing a list of 1,211 publications that cite GEO data to support their independent studies, it discovers that free data can support a wealth of high-quality investigations, that the rate of open data use keeps growing over the years, and that scholars in different countries show different rates of complying with data-sharing policies.

Engineering researchers’ data reuse behaviours: a structural equation modelling approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1141-1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeon Kyoung Joo ◽  
Youngseek Kim
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Data Reuse ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Data Repositories ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Engineering Community ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that influence engineering researchers’ data reuse behaviours. Design/methodology/approach The data reuse behaviour model of engineering researchers was investigated by using a survey method. A national survey was distributed to engineering researchers in the USA, and a total of 193 researchers responded. Findings The results showed that perceived usefulness, perceived concerns and norms of data reuse have significant relationships with attitudes toward data reuse. Also, attitudes toward data reuse and the availability of data repositories were found to have significant influences on engineering researchers’ intention to reuse data. Research limitations/implications This research used a combined theoretical framework by integrating the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the technology acceptance model (TAM). The combination of the TPB and the TAM effectively explained engineering researchers’ data reuse behaviours by addressing individual motivations, norms and resource factors. Practical implications This research has practical implications for promoting more reliable and beneficial data reuse in the engineering community, including encouraging positive motivations toward data reuse, building community norms of data reuse and setting up more data repositories. Originality value As prior research on data reuse mainly used interviews, this research used a quantitative approach based on a combined theoretical framework and included diverse research constructs which were not tested in the previous research models. As one of the initial studies investigating data reuse behaviours in the engineering community, the current research provided a better understanding of data reuse behaviours and suggested possible ways to facilitate engineering researchers’ data reuse behaviours.

What does it mean to adopt a metadata standard? A case study of Omeka and the Dublin Core

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 674-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Maron ◽  
Melanie Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Rhetorical Criticism ◽  
Content Management ◽  
Dublin Core ◽  
Metadata Standard ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Metadata Standards ◽  
Metadata Quality ◽  
The Way

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to employ a case study of the Omeka content management system to demonstrate how the adoption and implementation of a metadata standard (in this case, Dublin Core) can result in contrasting rhetorical arguments regarding metadata utility, quality, and reliability. In the Omeka example, the author illustrate a conceptual disconnect in how two metadata stakeholders – standards creators and standards users – operationalize metadata quality. For standards creators such as the Dublin Core community, metadata quality involves implementing a standard properly, according to established usage principles; in contrast, for standards users like Omeka, metadata quality involves mere adoption of the standard, with little consideration of proper usage and accompanying principles. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses an approach based on rhetorical criticism. The paper aims to establish whether Omeka’s given ends (the position that Omeka claims to take regarding Dublin Core) align with Omeka’s guiding ends (Omeka’s actual argument regarding Dublin Core). To make this assessment, the paper examines both textual evidence (what Omeka says) and material-discursive evidence (what Omeka does). Findings The evidence shows that, while Omeka appears to argue that adopting the Dublin Core is an integral part of Omeka’s mission, the platform’s lack of support for Dublin Core implementation makes an opposing argument. Ultimately, Omeka argues that the appearance of adopting a standard is more important than its careful implementation. Originality/value This study contributes to our understanding of how metadata standards are understood and used in practice. The misalignment between Omeka’s position and the goals of the Dublin Core community suggests that Omeka, and some portion of its users, do not value metadata interoperability and aggregation in the same way that the Dublin Core community does. This indicates that, although certain values regarding standards adoption may be pervasive in the metadata community, these values are not equally shared amongst all stakeholders in a digital library ecosystem. The way that standards creators (Dublin Core) understand what it means to “adopt a standard” is different from the way that standards users (Omeka) understand what it means to “adopt a standard.”

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