Research Data: Opportunities and Challenges for Universities and Information Producers

Online Information Conference 2013 “Research Data Management” - 20 November 2013 Alain Frey Scientific & Scholarly Research alain.frey@thomsonreuters.com

TODAY’S DISCUSSION

Research Data

• Big Data – the growth of data

• Opportunities and Challenges for Universities

• Response from Thomson Science Data Citation

Index Initiative

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Sound discovery relies upon solid supporting data.

• In recent years there has been a tremendous acceleration in

the movement toward open sharing of research data – a

great, and growing volume of research data is now available.

NATURE | News

Gene data to hit milestone*

With close to one million gene-expression data sets now in publicly accessible

repositories, researchers can identify disease trends without ever having to

enter a laboratory.

This article describes how the publicly available Gene Expression Omnibus research data

repository was used by Stanford investigators to lead them to identify a new drug target for

diabetes.

The investigators explain the “beauty of analyzing data from multiple experiments” is that

biases should cancel out between data sets, stating – “there is safety in numbers”.

* Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, Jul 18, 2012.

Copyright © 2012, Rights Managed by Nature Publishing Group

RESEARCH DATA: PRICELESS, DIVERSE, DISPARATE

Research Data – Influences of Sharing

The impact of the National Science Foundation mandate

on the research community has been extended to the

library community, as information professionals find a

greater need to serve as trusted consultants in advising

university faculty on data management planning.

RESEARCH DATA: PRICELESS, DIVERSE, DISPARATE

Sound discovery relies upon solid supporting data.

• The value of available data to research communities across

all disciplines is massive given the potential for its re-use.

• However, gaining a clear understanding of what data exists,

and where, is a challenge.

• Research data repositories are many, they are separately

maintained, and present a variety of schemes of organization

and search capability.

Research Data – Influences on Sharing

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– In recent years a significant motivating factor for data sharing

has been the influence of funding organizations.

– In the United States, an event that would impact all aspects

of research data curation and sharing was a 2010 mandate

from the National Science Foundation –

– All funding proposals submitted or due on or after

January 18, 2011, must include a “Data Management Plan”

describing how the proposal will conform to NSF policy on

the dissemination and sharing of research results.

– Globally, other funding organizations have produced similar

mandates.

Scientific data: open access to research results will boost Europe's innovation capacity

• European Commission (July 2012) outlined

measures to improve access to scientific

information produced in Europe.

• Broader and more rapid access to scientific papers

and data will make it easier for researchers and

businesses to build on the findings of public-funded

research.

• Boost Europe's innovation capacity and give

citizens quicker access to the benefits of scientific

discoveries.

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Challenges for Universities to Manage Research Data

Data Management is one of the essential areas of

• Issues addressed at the university level

– Meet funding body requirements

– Ensure research integrity and ability to repeat

– Accurate, complete records; authentic and reliable

• Benefits for the university

– Increases university research efficiency and effectiveness

– Saves time and money in the long run

– Prevents unnecessary duplication of research by sharing

– Complies with international standards in research

practices

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The Process for University

• Data Management Planning

• Documenting Data

• Issues for Data Storage

• Data Security Issues

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Data Planning

• Type of Data to be housed in repository

• Audience for the data

• Control of data (deposit by PI, researchers,

university management)

• Sharing requirements – planning

• How long should data be available (impacts

storage and planning)

• Directory naming and conventions

• Strategies for back up

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Documenting Data

• Impacts retrieval and sharing

• Identify Naming conventions at the beginning

– Is the data the result of research protocols or survey data

where naming is essential for retrieval and use

• Interoperability

• Administrative – preservation of data and rights

management

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Data Storage Issues

• Networked drive storage – ensures back up ease

and management by IS

• Available when required

• Storage in a central repository

• Minimizes risks associated with data loss

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Research Data – Diverse and Disparate Sources

Today there are many quality repositories

maintained for the purpose of providing access to

research data. Available mechanisms for research

data curation and sharing are proliferating.

However, gaining a clear understanding of what

exists can be a challenge – and repositories are

separately maintained, with varying schemes of

organization and search capabilities.

RESEARCH DATA: MAKING IT DISCOVERABLE, ACCESSIBLE, & CITABLE:The Information Provider’s Response

• The need for a multidisciplinary resource to bring this content

into the mainstream

• There is clearly a need for a single point of access to

quality research data from repositories across

disciplines and across the globe.

• This is the objective of Thomson Reuters’ Data Citation Index

• The Data Citation Index is a resource that resides on the well

known Web of Knowledge platform alongside gold-standard

resources such as Web of Science and BIOSIS Citation

Index.

• As with all Thomson Reuters resources, quality is extremely

important. Therefore our approach with the Data Citation

Index is to identify, evaluate, and select key repository

content for inclusion.

REPOSITORY EVALUATION & SELECTION

For the first phase of the Data Citation Index we have identified

data repositories that have some of the most relevant, widely

applicable data and prioritized these for early stage inclusion.

• We will closely monitor usage trends and feedback from our

customers to ensure our content strategy aligns with users’

needs.

• For example, regional needs will be monitored to determine

the best way to meet the expectations of researchers

worldwide.

• Though at this time we cannot yet state growth “numbers”, we

have aggressive goals associated with indexing additional

data repositories going forward.

TR DCI record:

data repository data study data set

microcitation

TR takes descriptive

metadata feed from repository

Repository raw metadata is analyzed by

TR

TR adds metadata

Thomson Reuters Indexing of Research Data Repositories

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Data Citation Index will include all records within repositories. More than 2

million records are included at launch.

These are organized within four Document Types:

Repository: the resource comprised of data studies, data sets and/or

microcitations. Stores, presents, and provides access to the data.

Data Study: Descriptions of studies or experiments with associated data which

have been used in the data study. Includes serial or longitudinal

studies over time.

Data Set: A single or coherent set of data or a data file provided by the

repository, as part of a collection, data study, or experiment.

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DOCUMENT TYPES

DATA CITATION INDEX

The Data Citation Index will expose important research

data and drive access to it through the Web of Science

platform

• In combination with Web of Science resources that provide

critical coverage of scholarly journals, books, and conference

proceedings, the Data Citation Index works to provide a

comprehensive view of scholarly research bringing research

data into the same arena as the published literature that it

supports

DATA CITATION INDEX: HOW IT LOOKS AND WORKS

The full record presents fundamental

information about this data study –

an abstract, data type,

miscellaneous descriptors, and basic

taxonomic data.

Through recommendation of a standard format for citing

research data we hope to impact the research community’s

citing practices – facilitating capture and unification of cites

to research data going forward.

Exposing this Data to the General Research Community

The full record serves as a central point

from which to collect information around

this data study, and link to related

information – such as the articles that have

referenced this Data Study.

Above all though – the Data

Citation Index is about getting

users to research data itself.

Link to the Data Set information

within the repository.

Above all though – the Data

Citation Index is about getting

users to research data itself.

Link to the Data Set information

within the repository.

Remaining within the Data

Citation Index, link to all

records associated with this

data study -- or link out directly

to associated data sets.

Information may of course be

printed, e-mailed, or archived

within EndNote Web, EndNote, or

added to one’s ResearcherID

publications list.

Research Data – Opportunities and Challenges

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As Research Data continues to grow exponentially it is critical

to make this source available to the International Research

Community

As policies change and universities adapt standards for

research storage and sharing of research results, it become

more critical for this data to be part of the continuum of

research

Thanks you