Institutional, Funder, and Journal Data Policies

Data curation exists within a larger framework of laws and policies covering topics like copyright and data retention. These obligations must be considered in order to properly care for data as it is being created and preserved. While laws may transition slowly, the policies applying to research data by funding bodies, institutions, and journals have seen significant change since the turn of the century. These policies have directly impacted the practices of researchers and prompted the creation of data curation services by many libraries in partnership with their larger institutions. This chapter examines three important categories of policies, primarily covered from the US perspective, that affect data curation practices in libraries: funding agency policies, institutional data policies, and journal data policies. This chapter was first published in Curating Research Data, Volume One: Practical Strategies for Your Digital Repository published by ACRL

DataCite as a novel bibliometric source: Coverage, strengths and limitations

This paper explores the characteristics of DataCite to determine its possibilities and potential as a new bibliometric data source to analyze the scholarly production of open data. Open science and the increasing data sharing requirements from governments, funding bodies, institutions and scientific journals has led to a pressing demand for the development of data metrics. As a very first step towards reliable data metrics, we need to better comprehend the limitations and caveats of the information provided by sources of open data. In this paper, we critically examine records downloaded from the DataCite's OAI API and elaborate a series of recommendations regarding the use of this source for bibliometric analyses of open data. We highlight issues related to metadata incompleteness, lack of standardization, and ambiguous definitions of several fields. Despite these limitations, we emphasize DataCite's value and potential to become one of the main sources for data metrics development.Comment: Paper accepted for publication in Journal of Informetric

Reuse remix recycle: repurposing archaeological digital data

Preservation of digital data is predicated on the expectation of its reuse, yet that expectation has never been examined within archaeology. While we have extensive digital archives equipped to share data, evidence of reuse seems paradoxically limited. Most archaeological discussions have focused on data management and preservation and on disciplinary practices surrounding archiving and sharing data. This article addresses the reuse side of the data equation through a series of linked questions: What is the evidence for reuse, what constitutes reuse, what are the motivations for reuse, and what makes some data more suitable for reuse than others? It concludes by posing a series of questions aimed at better understanding our digital engagement with archaeological data

How many citations are there in the Data Citation Index?

19th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators (STI), Leiden (The Netherlands) 3-5 september 2014.Descriptive analysis on the citation distribution of the Thomson Reuters' Data Citation Index by publication type and four broad areas: Science, Engineering & Technology, Humanities & Arts and Social Sciences.Nicolas Robinson-García is currently supported by a FPU Grant of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

In between data sharing and reuse: Shareability, availability and reusability in diverse contexts

Although data availability cannot be considered the sole predictor of effective reuse, because only accessible and well-managed data can make reuse possible, data reuse is contingent on the availability of data. It is critical to understand the nature of shareability, availability, and reusability, and their synergy and relationships, to further understand the dynamics of data reuse practices in multiple environments and contexts. This panel aims to closely examine aspects related to data shareability, availability and reusability, based on the assumption that each condition poses a cumulative effect on each other and impacts the efficiency and efficacy of the data reuse process. The panelists will present their findings and perspectives in a diverse context regarding data availability, between academic and non-academic; data shareability and data reusability, social sciences and earth science, researchers’ and journal publishers’ perspectives. Presentations will be followed by an interactive session taking the team-based approach, with the expectation to engage participants in discussion and experience-sharing, and to contribute in terms of practice and research with the current knowledge and applications