Integration of Data and Publications - Alliance for Permanent Access

Report on Integration of Data and Publications Grant Agreement no.: 261530
2.3. Conclusions on current practice
Taken together there appears to be a complex relationship between the researcher and
the data they collect and create. Researchers perceive and enforce their creator right
over the data, choose when and with whom they share it and wish to maintain this
control. This need for control appears based on perceived legal barriers and risk of
misuse, or absence of a trust network common in other forms of scholarly
communication; it may be a mixture of both. Researchers want somewhere safe to put
their data while maintaining control in order to avoid legal redress and claims of misuse,
but expect some central organisational structure to pay for these infrastructures. In a
study of data sharing in the biomedical informatics domain, a training review indicated
that many researchers recognise they lack sufficient skills to manage their data
appropriately, but importantly are enthusiastic to change this situation23. Researchers
would benefit in joining the publication with the data in a more formal and agreed
convention, and recognition and credit mechanism for this can help as important drivers
and incentives. They accept joining data to publication as good professional practice (see
graph above) and agree that data supporting traditional publication should be available
with the publication. Technology can reduce the latency to joining data to publications,
but the policies of the publishers requiring the availability of data supporting
publications are so far very much in a pioneering stage (see chapter 3).
2.4. Is there a need or case for change?
Data and publications belong together24 and researchers are the link between these two
established intellectual objects. The evidence that supports scholarly discourse cannot
be lost without severe consequences for scholarly communication. Distilled into
statements, our desk research has revealed five abstract researcher requirements for
integrating data and publication.
1. Researchers need somewhere to put data and make it safe for reuse
2. Researchers need to control its sharing and access
3. Researchers need the ability to integrate data and publication
4. Researchers need to get credit for data as a first class research object
5. Researchers need someone to pay for the costs of data availability for re-use
1. Where to put data and make it safe for reuse
Research data centres exist but they are fragmented and operate in different ways.
Generally data centres are community or discipline focussed and where significant
investment is available more large scale operations are established (as is evident in
particle physics and astronomical disciplines). Such mature data archives are capable of
taking full responsibility for the data they hold with clear preservation and access
23 http://www.cancerinformatics.org.uk/training.html
24 Smit, E (2011), Abelard and Héloise: Why Data and Publications Belong Together D-Lib.
Volume 17, Number ½ doi:10.1045/january2011-smit
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