Beyond article publishing - support and opportunities for researchers in FAIR data sharing

Author(s):  
Graham Smith ◽  
Andrew Hufton

<p>Researchers are increasingly expected by funders and journals to make their data available for reuse as a condition of publication. At Springer Nature, we feel that publishers must support researchers in meeting these additional requirements, and must recognise the distinct opportunities data holds as a research output. Here, we outline some of the varied ways that Springer Nature supports research data sharing and report on key outcomes.</p><p>Our staff and journals are closely involved with community-led efforts, like the Enabling FAIR Data initiative and the COPDESS 2014 Statement of Commitment <sup>1-4</sup>. The Enabling FAIR Data initiative, which was endorsed in January 2019 by <em>Nature</em> and <em>Scientific Data</em>, and by <em>Nature Geoscience</em> in January 2020, establishes a clear expectation that Earth and environmental sciences data should be deposited in FAIR<sup>5</sup> Data-aligned community repositories, when available (and in general purpose repositories otherwise). In support of this endorsement, <em>Nature</em> and <em>Nature Geoscience</em> require authors to share and deposit their Earth and environmental science data, and <em>Scientific Data</em> has committed to progressively updating its list of recommended data repositories to help authors comply with this mandate.</p><p>In addition, we offer a range of research data services, with various levels of support available to researchers in terms of data curation, expert guidance on repositories and linking research data and publications.</p><p>We appreciate that researchers face potentially challenging requirements in terms of the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ of sharing research data. This can be particularly difficult for researchers to negotiate given that huge diversity of policies across different journals. We have therefore developed a series of standardised data policies, which have now been adopted by more than 1,600 Springer Nature journals. </p><p>We believe that these initiatives make important strides in challenging the current replication crisis and addressing the economic<sup>6</sup> and societal consequences of data unavailability. They also offer an opportunity to drive change in how academic credit is measured, through the recognition of a wider range of research outputs than articles and their citations alone. As signatories of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment<sup>7</sup>, Nature Research is committed to improving the methods of evaluating scholarly research. Research data in this context offers new mechanisms to measure the impact of all research outputs. To this end, Springer Nature supports the publication of peer-reviewed data papers through journals like <em>Scientific Data</em>. Analysis of citation patterns demonstrate that data papers can be well-cited, and offer a viable way for researchers to receive credit for data sharing through traditional citation metrics. Springer Nature is also working hard to improve support for direct data citation. In 2018 a data citation roadmap developed by the Publishers Early Adopters Expert Group was published in <em>Scientific Data</em><sup>8</sup>, outlining practical steps for publishers to work with data citations and associated benefits in transparency and credit for researchers. Using examples from this roadmap, its implementation and supporting services, we outline how a FAIR-led data approach from publishers can help researchers in the Earth and environmental sciences to capitalise on new expectations around data sharing.</p><p>__</p><ol><li>https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00075-3</li> <li>https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0506-4</li> <li>https://copdess.org/enabling-fair-data-project/commitment-statement-in-the-earth-space-and-environmental-sciences/</li> <li>https://copdess.org/statement-of-commitment/</li> <li>https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciples</li> <li>https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/d375368c-1a0a-11e9-8d04-01aa75ed71a1</li> <li>https://sfdora.org/read/</li> <li>https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.259</li> </ol>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Gollwitzer ◽  
Andrea Abele-Brehm ◽  
Christian Fiebach ◽  
Roland Ramthun ◽  
Anne M. Scheel ◽  
...  

Providing access to research data collected as part of scientific publications and publicly funded research projects is now regarded as a central aspect of an open and transparent scientific practice and is increasingly being called for by funding institutions and scientific journals. To this end, researchers should strive to comply with the so-called FAIR principles (of scientific data management), that is, research data should be findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. Systematic data management supports these goals and, at the same time, makes it possible to achieve them efficiently. With these revised recommendations on data management and data sharing, which also draw on feedback from a 2018 survey of its members, the German Psychological Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie; DGPs) specifies important basic principles of data management in psychology. Initially, based on discipline-specific definitions of raw data, primary data, secondary data, and metadata, we provide recommendations on the degree of data processing necessary when publishing data. We then discuss data protection as well as aspects of copyright and data usage before defining the qualitative requirements for trustworthy research data repositories. This is followed by a detailed discussion of pragmatic aspects of data sharing, such as the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 data publications, restrictions on use (embargo period), the definition of "scientific use" by secondary users of shared data, and recommendations on how to resolve potential disputes. Particularly noteworthy is the new recommendation of distinct "access categories" for data, each with different requirements in terms of data protection or research ethics. These range from completely open data without usage restrictions ("access category 0") to data shared under a set of standardized conditions (e.g., reuse restricted to scientific purposes; "access category 1"), individualized usage agreements ("access category 2"), and secure data access under strictly controlled conditions (e.g., in a research data center; “access category 3"). The practical implementation of this important innovation, however, will require data repositories to provide the necessary technical functionalities. In summary, the revised recommendations aim to present pragmatic guidelines for researchers to handle psychological research data in an open and transparent manner, while addressing structural challenges to data sharing solutions that are beneficial for all involved parties.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nell Sedransk ◽  
Linda J. Young ◽  
Cliff Spiegelman

Making published, scientific research data publicly available can benefit scientists and policy makers only if there is sufficient information for these data to be intelligible. Thus the necessary meta-data go beyond the scientific, technological detail and extend to the statistical approach and methodologies applied to these data. The statistical principles that give integrity to researchers’ analyses and interpretations of their data require documentation. This is true when the intent is to verify or validate the published research findings; it is equally true when the intent is to utilize the scientific data in conjunction with other data or new experimental data to explore complex questions; and it is profoundly important when the scientific results and interpretations are taken outside the world of science to establish a basis for policy, for legal precedent or for decision-making. When research draws on already public data bases, e.g., a large federal statistical data base or a large scientific data base, selection of data for analysis, whether by selection (subsampling) or by aggregating, is specific to that research so that this (statistical) methodology is a crucial part of the meta-data. Examples illustrate the role of statistical meta-data in the use and reuse of these public datasets and the impact on public policy and precedent.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Spallek ◽  
S.M. Weinberg ◽  
M. Manz ◽  
S. Nanayakkara ◽  
X. Zhou ◽  
...  

Introduction: Increasing attention is being given to the roles of data management and data sharing in the advancement of research. This study was undertaken to explore opinions and past experiences of established dental researchers as related to data sharing and data management. Methods: Researchers were recruited from the International Association for Dental Research scientific groups to complete a survey consisting of Likert-type, multiple-choice, and open-ended questions. Results: All 42 respondents indicated that data sharing should be promoted and facilitated, but many indicated reservations or concerns about the proper use of data and the protection of research subjects. Many had used data from data repositories and received requests for data originating from their studies. Opinions varied regarding restrictions such as requirements to share data and the time limits of investigator rights to keep data. Respondents also varied in their methods of data management and storage, with younger respondents and those with higher direct costs of their research tending to use dedicated experts to manage their data. Discussion: The expressed respondent support for research data sharing, with the noted concerns, complements the idea of developing managed data clearinghouses capable of promoting, managing, and overseeing the data-sharing process. Knowledge Transfer Statement: Researchers can use the results of this study to evaluate and improve management and sharing of research data. By encouraging and facilitating the data-sharing process, research can advance more efficiently, and research findings can be implemented into practice more rapidly to improve patient care and the overall oral health of populations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngseek Kim ◽  
Seungahn Nah

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.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Hrynaszkiewicz ◽  
Varsha Khodiyar ◽  
Andrew L Hufton ◽  
Susanna-Assunta Sansone

AbstractSharing of experimental clinical research data usually happens between individuals or research groups rather than via public repositories, in part due to the need to protect research participant privacy. This approach to data sharing makes it difficult to connect journal articles with their underlying datasets and is often insufficient for ensuring access to data in the long term. Voluntary data sharing services such as the Yale Open Data Access (YODA) and Clinical Study Data Request (CSDR) projects have increased accessibility to clinical datasets for secondary uses while protecting patient privacy and the legitimacy of secondary analyses but these resources are generally disconnected from journal articles – where researchers typically search for reliable information to inform future research. New scholarly journal and article types dedicated to increasing accessibility of research data have emerged in recent years and, in general, journals are developing stronger links with data repositories. There is a need for increased collaboration between journals, data repositories, researchers, funders, and voluntary data sharing services to increase the visibility and reliability of clinical research. We propose changes to the format and peer-review process for journal articles to more robustly link them to data that are only available on request. We also propose additional features for data repositories to better accommodate non-public clinical datasets, including Data Use Agreements (DUAs).


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Curty

RESUMO As diretivas governamentais e institucionais em torno do compartilhamento de dados de pesquisas financiadas com dinheiro público têm impulsionado a rápida expansão de repositórios digitais de dados afim de disponibilizar esses ativos científicos para reutilização, com propósitos nem sempre antecipados, pelos pesquisadores que os produziram/coletaram. De modo contraditório, embora o argumento em torno do compartilhamento de dados seja fortemente sustentado no potencial de reúso e em suas consequentes contribuições para o avanço científico, esse tema permanece acessório às discussões em torno da ciência de dados e da ciência aberta. O presente artigo de revisão narrativa tem por objetivo lançar um olhar mais atento ao reúso de dados e explorar mais diretamente esse conceito, ao passo que propõe uma classificação inicial de cinco abordagens distintas para o reúso de dados de pesquisa (reaproveitamento, agregação, integração, metanálise e reanálise), com base em situações hipotéticas acompanhadas de casos de reúso de dados publicados na literatura científica. Também explora questões determinantes para a condição de reúso, relacionando a reusabilidade à qualidade da documentação que acompanha os dados. Oferece discussão sobre os desafios da documentação de dados, bem como algumas iniciativas e recomendações para que essas dificuldades sejam contornadas. Espera-se que os argumentos apresentados contribuam não somente para o avanço conceitual em torno do reúso e da reusabilidade de dados, mas também reverberem em ações relacionadas à documentação dos dados de modo a incrementar o potencial de reúso desses ativos científicos.Palavras-chave: Reúso de Dados; Reprodutibilidade Científica; Reusabilidade; Ciência Aberta; Dados de Pesquisa. ABSTRACT The availability of scientific assets through data repositories has been greatly increased as a result of government and institutional data sharing policies and mandates for publicly funded research, allowing data to be reused for purposes not always anticipated by primary researchers. Despite the fact that the argument favoring data sharing is strongly grounded in the possibilities of data reuse and its contributions to scientific advancement, this subject remains unobserved in discussions about data science and open science. This paper follows a narrative review method to take a closer look at data reuse in order to better conceptualize this term, while proposing an early classification of five distinct data reuse approaches (repurposing, aggregation, integration, meta-analysis and reanalysis) based on hypothetical cases and literature examples. It also explores the determinants of what constitutes reusable data, and the relationship between data reusability and documentation quality. It presents some challenges associated with data documentation and points out some initiatives and recommendations to overcome such problems. It expects to contribute not only for the conceptual advancement around the reusability and effective reuse of the data, but also to result in initiatives related to data documentation in order to increase the reuse potential of these scientific assets.Keywords:Data Reuse; Scientific Reproducibility; Reusability; Open Science; Research Data.  


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Hrynaszkiewicz ◽  
James Harney ◽  
Lauren Cadwallader

PLOS has long supported Open Science. One of the ways in which we do so is via our stringent data availability policy established in 2014. Despite this policy, and more data sharing policies being introduced by other organizations, best practices for data sharing are adopted by a minority of researchers in their publications. Problems with effective research data sharing persist and these problems have been quantified by previous research as a lack of time, resources, incentives, and/or skills to share data. In this study we built on this research by investigating the importance of tasks associated with data sharing, and researchers’ satisfaction with their ability to complete these tasks. By investigating these factors we aimed to better understand opportunities for new or improved solutions for sharing data. In May-June 2020 we surveyed researchers from Europe and North America to rate tasks associated with data sharing on (i) their importance and (ii) their satisfaction with their ability to complete them. We received 728 completed and 667 partial responses. We calculated mean importance and satisfaction scores to highlight potential opportunities for new solutions to and compare different cohorts.Tasks relating to research impact, funder compliance, and credit had the highest importance scores. 52% of respondents reuse research data but the average satisfaction score for obtaining data for reuse was relatively low. Tasks associated with sharing data were rated somewhat important and respondents were reasonably well satisfied in their ability to accomplish them. Notably, this included tasks associated with best data sharing practice, such as use of data repositories. However, the most common method for sharing data was in fact via supplemental files with articles, which is not considered to be best practice.We presume that researchers are unlikely to seek new solutions to a problem or task that they are satisfied in their ability to accomplish, even if many do not attempt this task. This implies there are few opportunities for new solutions or tools to meet these researcher needs. Publishers can likely meet these needs for data sharing by working to seamlessly integrate existing solutions that reduce the effort or behaviour change involved in some tasks, and focusing on advocacy and education around the benefits of sharing data. There may however be opportunities - unmet researcher needs - in relation to better supporting data reuse, which could be met in part by strengthening data sharing policies of journals and publishers, and improving the discoverability of data associated with published articles.


Author(s):  
J. Yu ◽  
L. Wu ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
X. Lei ◽  
W. He

A good data sharing system with spatial-seamless services will prevent the scientists from tedious, boring, and time consuming work of spatial transformation, and hence encourage the usage of the scientific data, and increase the scientific innovation. Having been adopted as the framework of Earth datasets by Group on Earth Observation (GEO), Earth System Spatial Grid (ESSG) is potential to be the spatial reference of the Earth datasets. Based on the implementation of ESSG, SDOG-ESSG, a data sharing system named global data spatially interrelate system (GASE) was design to make the data sharing spatial-seamless. The architecture of GASE was introduced. The implementation of the two key components, V-Pools, and interrelating engine, and the prototype is presented. Any dataset is firstly resampled into SDOG-ESSG, and is divided into small blocks, and then are mapped into hierarchical system of the distributed file system in V-Pools, which together makes the data serving at a uniform spatial reference and at a high efficiency. Besides, the datasets from different data centres are interrelated by the interrelating engine at the uniform spatial reference of SDOGESSG, which enables the system to sharing the open datasets in the internet spatial-seamless.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Starr ◽  
Eleni Castro ◽  
Mercè Crosas ◽  
Michel Dumontier ◽  
Robert R. Downs ◽  
...  

Reproducibility and reusability of research results is an important concern in scientific communication and science policy. A foundational element of reproducibility and reusability is the open and persistently available presentation of research data. However, many common approaches for primary data publication in use today do not achieve sufficient long-term robustness, openness, accessibility or uniformity. Nor do they permit comprehensive exploitation by modern Web technologies. This has led to several authoritative studies recommending uniform direct citation of data archived in persistent repositories. Data are to be considered as first-class scholarly objects, and treated similarly in many ways to cited and archived scientific and scholarly literature. Here we briefly review the most current and widely agreed set of principle-based recommendations for scholarly data citation, the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles (JDDCP). We then present a framework for operationalizing the JDDCP; and a set of initial recommendations on identifier schemes, identifier resolution behavior, required metadata elements, and best practices for realizing programmatic machine actionability of cited data. The main target audience for the common implementation guidelines in this article consists of publishers, scholarly organizations, and persistent data repositories, including technical staff members in these organizations. But ordinary researchers can also benefit from these recommendations. The guidance provided here is intended to help achieve widespread, uniform human and machine accessibility of deposited data, in support of significantly improved verification, validation, reproducibility and re-use of scholarly/scientific data.


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