Research Funders | Recommendations
1. Develop explicit policies for open access to research data with clear roles and responsibilities
Funder policies should set open access as the default for research data. Explicit policies with clear description of roles and responsibilities for each stakeholder (i.e. funders, grantees, repositories/data centres that curate the research data) are key in fostering change through their impact on research cultures.
2. Adopt a comprehensive approach in funding the implementation of open access to and preservation of research data
Funders are encouraged to provide appropriate resources for the following: collaborative and scalable infrastructures and services for access to and long-term preservation of research data; innovative actions that boost data-reuse in the research and innovation sector; development of skills among researchers and information specialists, both formal (curriculum development) and informal (training activities). They are encouraged to mobilize complementary funding instruments to achieve this comprehensive approach.
3. Reinforce the significance of the Data Management Plans (DMP) as a tool to embed and promote data management as a distinct activity within the research process
Funders should acknowledge DMP as a distinct activity within the project and appoint data management experts to review and monitor their implementation. DMP should be accompanied by the allocation of appropriate resources for the delivery of such plans and for monitoring researchers’ compliance.
4. Raise awareness and promote open research data in view of leading an open science paradigm
Funders should promote soft-type activities such as promoting good practices by specific researchers and research groups and/or establishing prizes for good practices in sharing research data, also in view of providing incentives to researchers.
5. Foster collaboration with relevant stakeholders and networks
Funders should take the lead in bringing together researchers, research institutions policy makers, data mangers, publishers, in view of developing aligned policies and sustainable strategies and infrastructures for open access to research data.
Article 29.3 of Model Grant Agreement: Projects participating in the Pilot on Open Access to Research Data in Horizon 2020
Regarding the digital research data generated in the action ('data'), the beneficiaries must:
- Deposit in a research data repository and take measures to make it possible for third parties to access, mine, exploit, reproduce and disseminate - free of charge for any user - the following:
- (The data, including associated metadata, needed to validate the results presented in scientific publications as soon as possible;
- Other data, including associated metadata, as specified and within the deadlines laid down in the 'data management plan';
- Provide information - via the repository - about tools and instruments at the disposal of the beneficiaries and necessary for validating the results (and - where possible - provide the tools and instruments themselves).
As an exception, the beneficiaries do not have to ensure open access to specific parts of their research data if the achievement of the action's main objective, as described in Annex 1, would be jeopardized by making those specific parts of the research data openly accessible. In this case, the data management plan must contain the reasons for not giving access.
Source: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-data-mgt_en.pdf
RCUK Common Principles on Data Policy
- Publicly funded research data are a public good, produced in the public interest, which should be made openly available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner that does not harm intellectual property.
- Institutional and project specific data management policies and plans should be in accordance with relevant standards and community best practice.
- To enable research data to be discoverable and re-used, sufficient metadata should be recorded and made openly available.
- Research organization policies and practices should ensure that legal, ethical and commercial constraints on release of research data are considered at all stages in the research process.
- Those who undertake Research Council funded work may be entitled to a limited period of privileged use of the data they have collected to enable them to publish the results of their research.
- All users of research data should acknowledge the sources of their data and abide by the terms and conditions under which they are accessed.
- It is appropriate to use public funds to support the management and sharing of publicly-funded research data.
Source: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/datapolicy
NIH and NEH Initiatives to Support New Types of Data Research
The NIH initiative on Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) is directed to biomedical scientists. BD2K has the following aims:
- To facilitate broad use of biomedical digital assets by making them discoverable, accessible, and citable.
- To conduct research and develop the methods, software, and tools needed to analyze biomedical Big Data.
- To enhance training in the development and use of methods and tools necessary for biomedical Big Data science.
- To support a data ecosystem that accelerates discovery as part of a digital enterprise.
Source: http://bd2k.nih.gov/index.html#sthash.AQOOxJfr.dpbs
The Digging into the Data Challenge begun in 2009 by the NEH, and is targeted to the Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH). It offers funding for new insights, tools and skills in the SSH by analyzing large-scale data. The initiative is now supported by a total of ten funders also from Europe, who pool resources to this end.
Source: http://www.diggingintodata.org
ESRC Research Data Policy
The ESRC Research Data Policy, published in 2010 and effective as of 2011, is a mandatory policy which requires grantees to deposit their research data and make them openly available in a timely and responsible way specifically through the UK Data Service (UKDS). UKDS has been designated to curate data in Social Research and receives direct support from the ESRC. The ESRC policy, which is characterized as very detailed, assigns responsibilities to all parties involved, provides full guidance to researchers on their obligations and addresses strategic issues such as IPR, copyright and confidentiality, security, and ethical considerations. The relationship between the ESRC and the UKDS is particularly close, with the latter providing training to grantees on data management and how to prepare their data, as well as evaluating research data for ingestion. The ESRC requires that DMPs undergo peer review and thus also provides extensive guidelines for the reviewers. ESRC addresses the issues of the quality of the research data to be curated and opened up, through the DMP, and emphasizes in its policy that 'research data must be accompanied by high-quality metadata in order to provide secondary users with the important additional information, for example, the origin, circumstances, processing/analysis and/or the researchers' management of the data'. The ESRC declares that it monitors its policy and reserves the right to withhold payments for non-compliance.
Source: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/about-esrc/information/data-policy.aspx
