With the advancement of technology and the almost incomprehensible amount of research data being derived daily, I thought I would seek opinions and thoughts on ways of disseminating, sharing, and preserving research data digitally. Who should pay for the storage and accessibility of such data (particularly if publicly funded data is to be made freely and openly accessible to everyone)? In what ways could we best ensure the protection of intellectual property? Are many small research management plans feasible or is it now critical to implement a large, international repository such as the Digital Preservation Network (DPN)? Can we manage and preserve ALL research data, or do we need to set criteria to decide what data is preserved/released, and, if the latter, what are some suggested criteria on which to base such decisions?
Good questions. As a general guideline, most UK funding bodies expect that any research data that underpins published findings would be retained (for validation purposes and to enable reuse) for a period of about ten years. To get a better idea of specific UK funding body requirements, take a look at the Digital Curation Centre's policy summary table (http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/policy-and-legal/overview-funders-data-policies). Funding bodies are clear that they do not expect that all research data should be retained however it can be quite a time consuming process to work backwards from published findings to identify exactly which data must be kept. There may also be good reasons to retain research data that isn't essential for validation, but may have potential reuse value. In addition to time and effort on the part of the researcher who created the data, selecting what research data to retain will likely involve input from support staff as well in terms of storage and access requirements. For a quick introduction to selecting and appraising research data, I'd recommend the DCC's short how-to guide on the topic (http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/how-guides/appraise-select-data).
RCUK's Common Principles on Data Policy (http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/datapolicy/) states that research data management and sharing costs are an acceptable use of public funds which is a welcome view. However - as with all project funding - only in-project costs can be requested in grant applications. There are still many questions that need to be answered about how the longer-term costs of curating research data will be met and to develop sustainable business models involving all stakeholders. The Digital Curation Centre held a forum with a number of UK HEIs and funding bodies in 2013 to discuss some of these questions. The results can be viewed at http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/research-data-management-forum-rdmf/rdmf-special-event-funding-research-data-management. In addition, the European Commission has funded the Collaboration to Clarify the Costs of Curation (4C) project to help institutions to invest more effectively in digital curation and preservation infrastructure (http://4cproject.eu/).
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