Digital Object Identifiers: Stability for citations and referencing, but not proxies for quality

What exactly is a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and how does it help in the management and long-term preservation of research? Laurence Horton explains the basic structure and purpose of a DOI and also points to some limitations. DOIs are not the only way of providing fixed, persisting references to objects, but they have emerged as the leading system

Information Security and GDPR

Some basic information security guidance for research support staff when helping researchers draft a Data Management Plan (DMP). This does not contain specialist information security advice

Access Some Areas: Reforming Access Categories for Data in a Social Science Data Archive

In this paper we outline the process of revising data access categories for research data sets in GESIS – a large European social science data archive based in Germany. The challenge is to create a minimal set of workable access conditions that cope with a) facilitating as “open as possible, closed as necessary” expectations for data reuse; b) map on to existing legacy access categories and conditions in a data archive. The paper covers the work done in gathering data on data access categories used by data archives in their existing data catalogues, the choices offered to depositors of data in their user agreements, and work done by other data reuse platforms in categorising access to their data. Finally, we talk through the process of refining a minimal set of data access conditions for the GESIS data archive. &nbsp

Liberating data: how libraries and librarians can help researchers with text and data mining.

With advances in computational methods and the proliferation of data sources, text and data mining offers exciting new directions for research. Neil Stewart, Jane Secker, Chris Morrison and Laurence Horton look at the role of libraries in providing support to researchers for these projects, particularly to help with rights issues and to digitise material for scholarly re-use. Librarians should be bold about the advice they give to researchers and encourage them to use the new copyright exceptions

“You say potato, I say potato” Mapping Digital Preservation and Research Data Management Concepts towards Collective Curation and Preservation Strategies

This paper explores models, concepts and terminology used in the Research Data Management and Digital Preservation communities. In doing so we identify several overlaps and mutual concerns where the advancements of one professional field can apply to and assist another. By focusing on what unites rather than divides us, and by adopting a more holistic approach we advance towards collective curation and preservation strategies. &nbsp

“You say potato, I say potato” Mapping Digital Preservation and Research Data Management Concepts towards Collective Curation and Preservation Strategies

This paper explores models, concepts and terminology used in the Research Data Management and Digital Preservation communities. In doing so we identify several overlaps and mutual concerns where the advancements of one professional field can apply to and assist another. By focusing on what unites rather than divides us, and by adopting a more holistic approach we advance towards collective curation and preservation strategies. &nbsp