Data sharing in environmental sciences: A survey of CNR researchers.

Luzi D., Ruggieri R., Biagioni S., Schiano E.

data sharing  long term preservation  research evaluation 

Today the free availability of research data is considered an important driver of innovation and of new scientific insights. Due to the increasing amount of data collected as well as to the variety of purposes, process of acquisition and formats this is not an easy task. It implies the development of policies that incentive data curation and preservation, the recognition of the value of research data as "first-class publication", the enforcement of clear rules for open access, copyright and ownership. It is also necessary that the scientific community agree on the development and use of common interoperability standards related to data models, format and exchange protocols. Last but not least it requires that suitable infrastructures be developed at national and international level considering discipline specificity. Projects aiming to develop infrastructures for research data as well as metadata standards that enable data sharing are carried out in many disciplinary and cross-disciplinary fields. Moreover, many surveys are exploring scientists' practices and perceptions toward data acquisition, curation and preservation focusing in particular on perceived barriers and enablers of data sharing. The paper presents a survey based on an online questionnaire submitted to CNR researchers in the area of Environmental Sciences that represent a data intensive, collaborative and multi-disciplinary field. The survey has the aim to explore researchers' attitude in data management, use and sharing, considering practices employed in all phases of data lifecycle as well as needs and requirements that are felt to be crucial for an effective implementation of data preservation. The questionnaire consists of two sections. The first one provides the demographic characteristics of the sample and addresses questions related to the description of the research process carried out in data acquisition and management. This part is based on a common agreed assumption that data life cycle cannot be considered independently from research lifecycle. In the second one a selection of questions already submitted in large-scale international surveys are proposed in order to measure commonality and differences in attitudes as well as in institutional policies.

Source: GL14 Fourteenth International Conference on Grey Literature. Tracking Innovation through Grey Literature, pp. 48–53, Rome, Italy, 29-30 November 2012