scholarly journals Researchers at Arab Universities Hold Positive Views on Research Data Management and Data Sharing

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-170
Author(s):  
Jennifer Kaari

A Review of: Elsayed, A. M., & Saleh, E. I. (2018). Research data management and sharing among researchers in Arab universities: An exploratory study. IFLA Journal, 44(4), 281–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/0340035218785196 Abstract Objective – To investigate researchers’ practices and attitudes regarding research data management and data sharing. Design – Email survey. Setting – Universities in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Subjects – Surveys were sent to 4,086 academic faculty researchers. Methods – The survey was emailed to faculty at three Arab universities, targeting faculty in the life sciences and engineering. The survey was created using Google Docs and remained open for five months. Participants were asked basic demographic questions, questions regarding their research data and metadata practices, and questions regarding their data sharing practices. Main Results – The authors received 337 responses, for a response rate of 8%. The results showed that 48.4% of respondents had a data management plan and that 97% were responsible for preserving their own data. Most respondents stored their research data on their personal storage devices. The authors found that 64.4% of respondents reported sharing their research data. Respondents most frequently shared their data by publishing in a data research journal, sharing through academic social networks such as ResearchGate, and providing data upon request to peers. Only 5.1% of respondents shared data through an open data repository.  Of those who did not share data, data privacy and confidentiality were the most common reasons cited. Of the respondents who did share their data, contributing to scientific progress and increased citation and visibility were the primary reasons for doing so. A total of 59.6% of respondents stated that they needed more training in research data management from their universities. Conclusion – The authors conclude that researchers at Arab universities are still primarily responsible for their own data and that data management planning is still a new concept to most researchers. For the most part, the researchers had a positive attitude toward data sharing, although depositing data in open repositories is still not a widespread practice. The authors conclude that in order to encourage strong data management practices and open data sharing among Arab university researchers, more training and institutional support is needed.

IFLA Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 034003522091798
Author(s):  
Guleda Dogan ◽  
Zehra Taskin ◽  
Arsev Umur Aydinoglu

Research data management is an important topic for funding agencies, universities and researchers. In this context, the main aim of this study is to collect preliminary information for Aperta, which is being developed by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, to fulfil the following goals: determine the research data management awareness levels of researchers in Turkey; understand current research data management practices in their research environments; and find out their experiences of policy issues. For this, a questionnaire was distributed to 37,223 researchers, with 1577 researchers completing it. The results indicated that researchers who spend more time with data have more concerns about data management issues. The levels of experience of creating a data management plan were quite low. The importance of this study lies in how it is able to show the current research data management practices of Turkish scholars during the new repository’s foundational development stage.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (06) ◽  
pp. 290-299
Author(s):  
Naushad Ali PM ◽  
Sidra Saeed

This study investigates perception of research scholars towards research data management and sharing. A survey was conducted among research scholars from Faculty of Life Sciences and Social Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). In total, 352 participants filled out the questionnaire. The study shows that research scholars ofFaculty of Social Sciences are more willing to share their research data as compared to Research Scholars of Life Sciences. Contributing to scientific progress and increasing research citations and visibility were the key factors that motivated researchers to share data. However, confidentiality and data misuse were the main concerns among those who were unwilling to share. Finally, some recommendations to improve the of data management and sharing practices are presented.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e28163
Author(s):  
Dasapta Irawan ◽  
Cut Rachmi

Every researcher needs data in their working ecosystem, but despite of the resources (funding, time, and energy), that they have spent to get the data, only a few are putting more real attention to data management. This paper is mainly describing our recommendation of RDMP document at university level. This paper would be a form of our initiative to be developed at university or national level, which also in-line with current development in scientific practices mandating data sharing and data re-use. Researchers can use this article as an assessment form to describe the setting of their research and data management. Researcher can also develop more detail RDMP to cater specific project's environment. In this Research Data Management Plan (RDMP), we propose three levels of storage: offline working storage, offline backup storage and online-cloud backup storage, located on a shared-repository. We also propose two kinds of cloud repository: a dynamic repository to store live data and a static repository to keep a copy of final data. Hopefully, this RDMP could solve problems on data sharing and preservation, and additionally could increase researchers' awareness about data management to increase the value and impact of their researches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-204
Author(s):  
Hua Nie ◽  
Pengcheng Luo ◽  
Ping Fu

Research Data Management (RDM) has become increasingly important for more and more academic institutions. Using the Peking University Open Research Data Repository (PKU-ORDR) project as an example, this paper will review a library-based university-wide open research data repository project and related RDM services implementation process including project kickoff, needs assessment, partnerships establishment, software investigation and selection, software customization, as well as data curation services and training. Through the review, some issues revealed during the stages of the implementation process are also discussed and addressed in the paper such as awareness of research data, demands from data providers and users, data policies and requirements from home institution, requirements from funding agencies and publishers, the collaboration between administrative units and libraries, and concerns from data providers and users. The significance of the study is that the paper shows an example of creating an Open Data repository and RDM services for other Chinese academic libraries planning to implement their RDM services for their home institutions. The authors of the paper have also observed since the PKU-ORDR and RDM services implemented in 2015, the Peking University Library (PKUL) has helped numerous researchers to support the entire research life cycle and enhanced Open Science (OS) practices on campus, as well as impacted the national OS movement in China through various national events and activities hosted by the PKUL.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatimah Jibril Abduldayan ◽  
Fasola Petunola Abifarin ◽  
Georgina Uchey Oyedum ◽  
Jibril Attahiru Alhassan

Purpose The purpose of this study was to understand the research data management practices of chemistry researchers in the five specialized federal universities of technology in Nigeria. Appropriate research data management practice ensures that research data are available for reuse by secondary users, and research findings can be verified and replicated within the scientific community. A poor research data management practice can lead to irrecoverable data loss, unavailability of data to support research findings and lack of trust in the research process. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory research technique involving semi-structured, oral and face-to-face interview is used to gather data on research data management practices of chemistry researchers in Nigeria. Interview questions were divided into four major sections covering chemistry researchers’ understanding of research data, experience with data loss, data storage method and backup techniques, data protection, data preservation and availability of data management plan. Braun and Clarke thematic analysis approach was adapted, and the Provalis Qualitative Data Miner (version 5) software was used for generating themes and subthemes from the coding framework and for presenting the findings. Findings Findings revealed that chemistry researchers in Nigeria have a good understanding of the concept of research data and its importance to research findings. Chemistry researchers have had several experiences of irrecoverable loss of data because of poor choice of storage devices, back-up methods and weak data protection systems. Even though the library was agreed as the most preferred place for long-term data preservation, there is the issue of trust and fear of loss of ownership of data to unauthorized persons or party. No formal data management plan is used while conducting their scientific research. Research limitations/implications The research focused on research data management practices of chemistry researchers in the five specialized federal universities of technology in Nigeria. Although the findings of the study are similar to perceptions and practices of researchers around the world, it cannot be used as a basis for generalization across other scientific disciplines. Practical implications This study concluded that chemistry researchers need further orientation and continuous education on the importance and benefits of appropriate research data management practice. The library should also roll out research data management programs to guide researchers and improve their confidence throughout the research process. Social implications Appropriate research data management practice not only ensures that the underlying research data are true and available for reuse and re-validation, but it also encourages data sharing among researchers. Data sharing will help to ensure better collaboration among researchers and increased visibility of the datasets and data owners through the use of standard data citations and acknowledgements. Originality/value This is a qualitative and in-depth study of research data management practices and perceptions among researchers in a particular scientific field of study.


Author(s):  
Abel Christopher M'kulama ◽  
Akakandelwa Akakandelwa

Research data management is considered a critical step in the research process among researchers. Researchers are required to submit RDM plans with details about data storage, data sharing, and reuse procedures when submitting research proposals for grants. This chapter presents findings of an investigation into the perceptions and practices of ZARI researchers towards research data management. Mixed methods research using a self-administered questionnaire was adopted for data collection. Fifty-one researchers were sampled and recruited for participation into the study. The study established that the majority of the researchers were not depositing their research data in central repositories; data was kept on individual's devices and was therefore not readily available for sharing. The major challenges being faced by researchers included lack of a policy, lack of a repository, and inadequate knowledge in RDM. The study concludes that research data at ZARI was not being professionally managed. The study recommends for formulation of policies, establishment of repository and staff training.


Author(s):  
Yuhong Cui

Research Data is acknowledged as constituting elements of the big data landscape and currency of science. With the rise of the open science movement and data sharing policies, research data management has been an emerging practice among domain-specific science and library and information science, while academic libraries have become deeply involved in the development of principles and best practices for managing data for long-term use. Research data management practices in China have a much shorter history and face more challenges. This paper is to explore the development of research data management in China across different disciplines. A conceptual framework of Research Data Management for Development (RDM4D) is proposed to demonstrate the status of data sharing policies, data repositories and libraries actions within three dimensions of societies, technology and humanity in China. Our goal is to bridge the gap between China and other countries and explore which are the proper actions for Chinese academic libraries.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Anne Kennan ◽  
Lina Markauskaite

There is increasing pressure from funders, publishers, the public, universities and other research organisations for researchers to improve their data management and sharing practices. However, little is known about researchers’ data management and sharing practices and concerns. The research reported in this paper seeks to address this by providing insight into the research data management and sharing practices of academics at ten universities in New South Wales, Australia. Empirical data was taken from a survey to which 760 academics responded, with 634 completing at least one section. Results showed that at the time of the survey there were a wide variety of research data in use, including analogue data, and that the challenges researchers faced in managing their data included finding safe and secure storage, particularly after project completion, but also during projects when data are used (and thus stored) on a wide variety of less-than-optimal temporary devices. Data sharing was not widely practiced and only a relatively small proportion of researchers had a research data management plan. Since the survey was completed much has changed: capacities and communities are being built around data management and sharing and policies, and guidelines are being constructed. Data storage and curation services are now more freely available. It will be interesting to observe how the findings of future studies compare with those reported here.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Mushi

The emergence of data-driven research and demands for the establishment of Research Data Management (RDM) has created interest in academic institutions and research organizations globally. Some of the libraries especially in developed countries have started offering RDM services to their communities. Although lagging behind, some academic libraries in developing countries are at the stage of planning or implementing the service. However, the level of RDM awareness is very low among researchers, librarians and other data practitioners. The objective of this paper is to present available open resources for different data practitioners particularly researchers and librarians. It includes training resources for both researchers and librarians, Data Management Plan (DMP) tool for researchers; data repositories available for researchers to freely archive and share their research data to the local and international communities.   A case study with a survey was conducted at the University of Dodoma to identify relevant RDM services so that librarians could assist researchers to make their data accessible to the local and international community. The study findings revealed a low level of RDM awareness among researchers and librarians. Over 50% of the respondent indicated their perceived knowledge as poor in the following RDM knowledge areas; DMP, data repository, long term digital preservation, funders RDM mandates, metadata standards describing data and general awareness of RDM. Therefore, this paper presents available open resources for different data practitioners to improve RDM knowledge and boost the confidence of academic and research libraries in establishing the service.


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