Incomplete and inconsistent connections between institutional repository holdings and the global data infrastructure inhibit research data discovery and reusability. Preventing metadata loss on the path from institutional repositories to the global research infrastructure can substantially improve research data reusability.
The Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) Initiative, funded by the National Science Foundation, is investigating institutional processes for improving research data FAIRness. Focal points of the RADS inquiry are to understand where researchers are sharing their data and to assess metadata quality, i.e., completeness, at six Data Curation Network (DCN) academic institutions: Cornell University, Duke University, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, Washington University in St. Louis, and Virginia Tech. RADS is examining where researchers are storing their data, considering local institutional repositories and other popular repositories, and analyzing the completeness of the research data metadata stored in these institutional and other repositories. Metadata FAIRness (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) is used as the metric to assess metadata quality as FAIR complete.
Research findings show significant content loss when metadata from local institutional repositories are compared to metadata found in DataCite. After examining the factors contributing to this metadata loss, RADS investigators are developing a set of recommended best practices for institutions to increase the quality of their scholarly metadata.
Further, documentation such as README files are of particular importance not only for data reuse, but as sources containing valuable metadata such as Persistent Identifiers (PIDs). DOIs and related PIDs such as ORCID and ROR are still rarely used in institutional repositories. More frequent use would have a positive effect on discoverability, interoperability and reusability, especially when transferring to global infrastructure.
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Fostering Data Reusability: Increasing Impact and Ease in Sharing and Reusing Research Data - Workshop Report and Action Steps
This workshop report tackles one of the most significant barriers to progress in making research data publicly accessible: the hurdles faced by researchers in producing and reusing publicly accessible research data, both in their research practice and in the surrounding ecosystem shaped by external stakeholders. The central challenge in high quality data sharing is to understand how researchers can increase the downstream value of shared data while reducing burden for both data producers and reusers. The report summarizes recommendations and actions from an NSF-sponsored virtual workshop series on Fostering Data Reusability: Increasing Impact and Ease in Data Sharing and Reuse held in June 2021. The series explored what context data reusers need to evaluate and appropriately reuse the data, identified practices that will improve data reusability and reduce the burden in producing and sharing research data, and used a stakeholder alignment approach to identify actions stakeholders could take to foster progress in reducing burden and increasing impact in data sharing and reuse.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2039677
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10293361
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Fostering Data Reusability: Increasing Impact and Ease in Sharing and Reusing Research Data
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5390123
