05 Mar 2024
The State of Open Data 2023’s Case Studies and Commentaries Highlight Stronger Collaborative Approaches to Open Data and Research
For the first time this annual report is supplemented by four perspectives, one co-authored by Professor Susanna-Assunta Sansone
Published by Digital Science, Figshare and Springer Nature, The State of Open Data is the longest-running longitudinal analysis of researchers' attitudes towards and experiences of open data. Its latest release, State of Open Data Report 2023, provides valuable insights based on 6,091 survey responses, and also offers some recommendations on actions that need to be taken to better support the research community.
For the first time in its nine-year history, a supplementary report has been published today, with case studies and commentaries told from the perspective of research stakeholder groups: From theory to practice: Case studies and commentary from libraries, publishers, funders and industry. These are real-world insights into how these stakeholders are working to address data sharing challenges, operationalise data policy, and support researchers.
“A key theme of the report is that greater collaboration is critical to promoting data that is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR), and fostering open research”
says Professor Susanna-Assunta Sansone, Oxford e-Research Centre Director and an author of the FAIR Principles.
Among the four articles, “Operationalize data policies through collaborative approaches – the momentum is now” is authored by Professor Sansone and colleagues from scholarly publishers and academics. This perspective addresses how data sharing requirements and standards can be introduced and operationalised consistently to provide authors with clear and uniform guidance, avoid duplication of effort and, critically, reduce the burden of practicing open science on authors.
“We also feature the University of Oxford based FAIRsharing, that we lead on, and the TIER2 project we are part of, focussing on our collaborative activities with and for publishers. We also highlight our University’s Research Practice Programme, a step-change example for Higher Education institutions” says Professor Sansone, who is also the Programme’s Academic Lead. “Publication comes relatively late in the research lifecycle, and institutions and funders play a pivotal role in providing support to researchers for planning, managing or sharing their data”.
The article “Operationalize data policies through collaborative approaches - the momentum is now” was authored by Catriona J. MacCallum, Wiley, Tony Ross-Hellauer, Graz University of Technology; TIER2 project, Susanna-Assunta Sansone, University of Oxford; Oxford e-Research Centre, Rebecca Taylor-Grant, Taylor & Francis, Shelley Stall, American Geophysical Union (AGU) and Hylke Koers, STM Solutions.
