JISC

Final report available

Background

It is becoming increasingly clear that effective and efficient management and reuse of research data will be a key component in the UK knowledge economy in years to come, essential for the efficient conduct of research and its dissemination and use. In recognition of this, there have been many calls for access to science data at national and international levels.

Following a number of successful development projects concerning the management of research data funded under JISC's Digital Repositories Programme and related work elsewhere (including the scoping of a set of principles for research data stewardship by the Research Information Network), a review study was commissioned from UKOLN on how data is managed in the UK. The report, Dealing with Data, presented a number of recommendations mapping a practical way forward in this area. The take-off point for this project is Recommendation 30: JISC should work in partnership with the research funding bodies and jointly commission a cost-benefit study of data curation and preservation infrastructure.[1]

Aims and objectives

The aim of the project is to identify the benefits of the curation and open sharing of research data, using quantitative and qualitative methods.[2]

The project’s objectives are to:

• Identify a methodology by which to estimate the benefits to UK Higher Education and the UK more generally of curating and openly sharing research data produced by researchers in UK HE;
• Identify benefits of curating and sharing research data;
• Use the methodology as far as possible to derive an estimate, expressed in financial terms where possible, for each identified benefit;
• Document case studies and examples of data reuse, where that reuse led to tangible benefits.