Open research data: A case study into institutional and infrastructural arrangements to stimulate open research data sharing and reuse

Abstract

This study investigates which combination of institutional and infrastructural arrangements positively impact research data sharing and reuse in a specific case. We conducted a qualitative case study of the institutional and infrastructural arrangements implemented at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. In the examined case, it was fundamental to change the mindset of researchers and to make them aware of the benefits of sharing data. Therefore, arrangements should be designed bottom-up and used as a “carrot” rather than as a “stick.” Moreover, support offered to researchers should cover at least legal, financial, administrative, and practical issues of research data management and should be informal in nature. Previous research describes generic institutional and infrastructural instruments that can stimulate open research data sharing and reuse. This study is among the first to analyze what and how infrastructural and institutional arrangements work in a particular context. It provides the basis for other scholars to study such arrangements in different contexts. Open data policymakers, universities, and open data infrastructure providers can use our findings to stimulate data sharing and reuse in practice, adapted to the contextual situation. Our study focused on a single case and a particular part of the university. We recommend repeating this research in other contexts, that is, at other universities, faculties, and involving other research data infrastructure providers.

Identifying the most important facilitators of open research data sharing and reuse in Epidemiology: A mixed-methods study

“…Campbell [25], Harper and Kim [18], Kim and Adler [22], Zuiderwijk, Shinde [66] Actively supporting researchers and incorporating licensing and copyright processes Patel [7], Piwowar, Day [67], Schmidt, Gemeinholzer [20] Infrastructures should be integrated and compatible Behnke, Staiger [68], Koski, Gheller [69], van Gend and Zuiderwijk [35] Data repositories should be easy to use, and should have user-friendly graphic interfaces…”

“…Shelly and Jackson [72], van Gend and Zuiderwijk [35], Zuiderwijk, Shinde [66] Availability of software/tools that are used for metadata creation and management.…”

“…van Gend and Zuiderwijk [35], Zuiderwijk, Shinde [66] Infrastructures are linked to higher-level search engines/ registry of repositories that enable researchers to search data across different data repositories easily.…”

“…Behnke, Staiger [68], van Gend and Zuiderwijk [35] Providing various query interfaces to accommodate different data search behaviors for the searching functions in infrastructures.…”

“…Fecher, Friesike [14], Patel [7], van Gend and Zuiderwijk [35], Delft University of Technology [76] Supporting the alignment of organizational data sharing and management policies between organizations and countries.…”