Challenges for academic researchers

Dr Michael Jubb

FoI and HE researchers

University of Manchester

22 March 2011

Aims of the legislationopenness and accountability of public bodiespresumption in favour of disclosure

applicant-blind and motive-blindfreedom to pass on the information, so it becomes in effect in the public domain

transparency a key theme for the Coalition Government

Aims of universities and researchers

enhance knowledge and understandingcommunicate their findings

maximise disseminationregister claim to the work they have donegain peer recognition and esteem

career rewardsRAE/REF ratingswin the next grant

social and economic impact

So what’s the problem?

What do we mean by information?

‘information recorded in any form’ (and for certain purposes may include ‘unrecorded information’)methods, tools, SOPs, protocols, computer programmes, algorithms, maps, scans, questionnaires, lab books, samples, images, slides, minutes, proposals, working papers, emails…………data: raw, intermediate, derived, results…..

Research Datathe ‘fourth paradigm’ and the data delugedata as an integral part of the scholarly record

links between publications and underlying datavalidation and quality assurance

data as a valuable resource in its own right, for secondary analysis and re-use

integration and data mining

Research funders’ policies codes of practice

no explicit requirement on compliance with FoI and EIR

data sharing policies“All applications seeking research grant funding from BBSRC must submit a statement on data sharing. This should include concise plans for data management and sharing as part of research grant proposal or provide explicit reasons why data sharing is not possible or appropriate.”

BBSRC

consonant with FoI?

Gaps between policy and practice?

Findings from JISC data management project at Manchester:

data management ad hoc and varies from group to groupmultiple copies, difficult to track downexperiment data in lab books: hard to searchportable devices used for transfer, sharing, storageback-up policies not in placedecentralised and fragmented storageno archiving policies to support long-term curation

Concerns and reservations: I‘ownership’ and protection for intellectual capitallack of career rewards for openness and/or sharing

especially strong concern for data collected and worked on over many yearsconcerns about being ‘scooped’misuse or inappropriate use: ‘no-one else can really understand my data’lack of standardisation

desire for control over when, how and with whom to share

Concerns and reservations: IIcosts in time and moneyadministrative overhead for researchers and support staff

in records and data managementin dealing with requests (particularly where there is a concerted campaign)

BUT

efficiency gains through managing records and data effectively

once effective systems have been put in place……

FoI requests can be refused if estimated cost of obtaining the information exceeds £450

Concerns and reservations: IIIcommercial/competitive interests

risk to partnerships with public and private sector bodies in UK and overseasrisk to research performance (and RAE/REF scores) of individuals, groups and universitiesrisks to exploitation of IPR (IP-hunting by industrial and scientific competitors)

a sector-wide risk?BUT

qualified exemption for trade secrets, and information likely to prejudice commercial interests

Concerns and reservations: IVquality assurance

dissemination of undigested and untested data and informationdissemination of mistakes and cock-upsdata deluge risk to confidence in the research community

ORpromotion of ‘meaningful informed debate’

Concerns and reservations: Vrisk to long-term and/or controversial research projects

where the research depends on gathering and analysing data over a long period of time

risk of loss to free-riders

where researchers risk attracting concerted campaigns during the course of their research

from the UK and overseas

Control and timingdisciplinary differences

genomics different from neurology, particle physics different from chemical engineering

key questionswhat data?what other kinds of information?in what formats?to whom?when?

especially in relation to the timing of peer-reviewed publications

The publication exemption“Information is exempt if the information held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date (whether determined or not).” (s.22)need for clarity about what is to be published, in what format, and when

data (raw, intermediate, derived, results…..)methods, tools, SOPs, protocols, computer programmes, algorithms, maps, scans, questionnaires, lab books, samples, images, slides, minutes, proposals, working papers, emails…………

The Scottish exemptioninformation obtained in the course of, or derived from, a programme of research is exempt if

the programme is continuing with a view to publicationdisclosure before publication would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially

the programmethe interests of any individual participating in itthe interests of the authority which holds the information

FOISA s 27

a desirable exemption for the rest of the UK?

The Muir Russell recommendations

all data, metadata and codes necessary to allow independent replication of results should be provided concurrent with peer-reviewed publicationensure that when you rely in a publication on data held by others, that the data is archived and available in a timely wayuniversities should develop formal approaches for training of researchers in handling and sharing of research datafunders should make clear how important (sic) data and metadata should be preserved

make explicit budgetary and resource provisionclear statement of requirements as to which data should be placed in public domain, and any constraints on timing of such release

ICO should hold consultations on definitions of research data, and on time for which they can be withheld

BBSRC positionBBSRC recognises

the importance of contributing to the growing international efforts in data sharing. that making research data more readily available will reinforce open scientific enquiry and stimulate new investigations and analyses. that data sharing should be led by the scientific community and driven by scientific need. it should also be cost effective and the data shared should be of the highest quality.that different fields of study will require different approaches: what is sensible in one area may not work in others researchers have a legitimate interest in benefiting from their own time and effort in producing the data but not in prolonged exclusive use of these datathe need to safeguard intellectual property and to protect opportunities for commercialisation of research outputs

Questions?

Michael Jubbwww.rin.ac.uk