News
State of Open Data 2018 released
Open data has become more embedded in the research community, according to an industry report. In the Figshare report, 64 per cent of
survey respondents reveal they made their data openly available in 2018. However, a large number of respondents (60 per cent) had never heard of the FAIR principles, a guideline to enhance the reusability of academic data. Figshare’s annual report, The State of
Open Data 2018, was launched to coincide with global celebrations around Open Access Week. The report is the third in the series and includes survey results and a collection of articles from global industry experts, as well as a foreword from Ross Wilkinson, director for global strategy at the Australian Research Data Commons. Two years after the first report, which
was created to examine attitudes and experiences of researchers working with open data – sharing it, reusing it, redistributing it – survey results continue to show encouraging progress that open data is becoming more embedded in the research community. For this year’s survey, as with previous
years, Figshare partnered with Springer Nature, to ensure as diverse an audience as possible.
Key findings include: • 64 per cent of respondents revealed they made their data openly available in 2018, a seven per cent rise on 2016;
• Data citations are motivating more respondents to make data openly available, increasing 7 per cent from 2017 to 46 per cent;
• 60 per cent of respondents had never heard of FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability – provide a guideline for data producers and publishers to enhance reusability of academic data);
• The percentage of respondents in support of national mandates for open data is higher, at 63 per cent, than in 2017 (55 per cent);
• Respondents who revealed that they had reused open data in their research continues to shrink. In 2018 48 per cent said they had done this, whereas in 2017 50 per cent had done so, with 57 per cent in 2016;
• Most researchers felt that they did not get sufficient credit for sharing data (58 per cent), compared to 9 per cent who felt they do;
• Respondents having lost research data has decreased from 2017 (36 per cent versus 30 per cent in 2018);
• The survey asked a number of questions about FAIR principles this year, with some surprising results. The percentage of respondents who reported being familiar with the principles was just 15 per cent, with 25 per cent having previously heard of FAIR and 60 per cent never having heard of it.
The results confirmed that, despite publishers, funders and institutions rapidly adopting these principles, there remains a crucial gap in educating researchers. They also show the need for initiatives like Go Fair, which gives researchers clear instructions on how to be FAIR compliant. Mark Hahnel, CEO of Figshare, said: ‘In
recent years we’ve seen the conversation move from data not only being open but being FAIR. This is a major shift, considering we spent the early years of Figshare trying to convince researchers to share their data. For every new feature we build at Figshare, we have one eye on the FAIR principles, so as a repository, we are doing as much of the heavy lifting as possible for researchers. There is still a lot work to be done to educate researchers on what is expected of them but the report highlights new initiatives from across the research ecosystem, pulling together in the same direction.’
Open Access Week: CUP moves four journals to gold OA
Cambridge University Press is moving four more of its journals from a traditional subscription model to gold open access in what it describes as ‘a further demonstration of its commitment to the development of a sustainable, more open future for academic publishing’.
The announcement
coincided with the start of Open Access Week (22 to 28 October), which aims to promote the benefits of open access and help to make it a new norm in scholarship and research. From 1 January, the following journals will move to gold open access: • Epidemiology & Infection;
• Genetics Research; • Primary Health Care Research and Development; and
• Netherlands Journal of Geosciences
To mark Open Access Week, this year’s most downloaded articles from each of the journals was made freely available until the end of October; and the Press says plans are in place to flip a larger number of journals to open access in 2020. Fiona Hutton, open access publisher for STM journals, said: ‘Flipping these titles to open access will increase both the visibility and the impact of the high-quality research they contain. This in turn, will
28 Research Information December 2018/January 2019
strengthen their position as highly influential publications in their respective fields. These are fields that are embracing OA and flipping will help the journals to better serve their communities.’ The Press says its mission
to make open research work for the academic communities it serves, also lies behind its new content sharing service, Cambridge Core Share. This allows journal content to be shared quickly, easily and responsibly, with authors and readers able to generate a link to an article that can then be shared anywhere online, allowing anyone to read the final, published version for free. There are now more than
270 journals benefiting from Cambridge Core Share, which went live in September following a 10-month pilot. Since then, more than 2,700 share links have been generated – a rise of 286 per cent on the previous monthly average.
Mandy Hill, managing
director of academic publishing, added: ‘As an advocate for the benefits of open research, we are keen to support rapid dissemination and collaboration for researchers. We will continue to invest in innovative solutions and explore models that will ensure sustainability and quality for the academic community.’
@researchinfo |
www.researchinformation.info
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
