Funder-Publisher Policy Alignment
Collaborative session notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m0mPgLCA_RuX3kEpZ_Ub3VIKF2XdRW-IMe6-9GyF1iI/edit?usp=sharing
-
Introduction
-
Overview of Project - Jeremy Geelen (CIHR)
-
-
Rationale
-
The rationale for funder-publisher policy alignment - Catriona McCallum (Hindawi)
-
-
Issues of Misalignment
-
Researcher perspective - Ralitsa Madsen (UCL Cancer Institute)
-
Editor perspective - Myles Axton (Wiley)
-
Funder perspective - Jeremy Geelen (CIHR)
-
-
Funder Policies and Opportunities for Alignment
-
Comparing Funder and Publisher Research Data Policies: An Analysis - Joris van Rossum (STM Association)
-
-
Q&A and discussion
At RDA P17, the Research Funders and Stakeholders on Open Research and Data Management and Practices IG, the Data Policy Standardisation and Implementation IG, and the FAIRshairing WG held a joint session about their collaborative project on funder-publisher research data policy alignment. The project includes three phases:
-
Research and Analysis
In this phase, the team will conduct research into funder-publisher policy alignment, specifically related to data availability statements, data management plans, and encouraging/requiring the use of specific data repositories.
-
Recommendations to Improve Policy Alignment
In this phase, the team will engage stakeholders to discuss phase 1 findings and develop recommendations to improve policy alignment. Recommendations will be developed through an iterative process of community input and review.
-
Application of Recommendations
In this phase, the teams will disseminate the recommendations and explore the use of the recommendations as a basis for continued policy alignment. FAIRsharing will put these templates into action, making these (harmonized) policies discoverable,comparable and FAIR.
The session at P17 updated participants on phase 1 findings to date, proposed activities and stakeholders to engage for phase 2, and provided an opportunity for the RDA community to discuss and give input into the project. The discussion produced three key takeaways:
-
While the deliverables of the project are sound, the rationale for the project, current status of policy (mis)alignment, and the evidence base supporting the project could be stronger.
-
The evidence base could reveal additional policy features to consider (i.e., beyond data availability statements, DMPs and preferred repositories).
-
The project should engage other stakeholders for their input on the issue, specifically data repositories and researchers, alongside other stakeholders such as research infrastructures and institutional data services (e.g., data librarians).
The proposed session has been developed with each of these points in mind. The objective of the session will be to improve our understanding of policy (mis)alignment and to explore which policy features we should investigate, with stakeholder input, before advancing the project. To do this, we will hear perspectives on data policy challenges, benefits, and drivers (e.g., promotion of reproducibility, meet researcher/reader needs, etc.) from a funder representative, a publisher representative, and (responding to feedback from P17) a repository representative/data librarian and a researcher. These presentations will be followed by a Q&A and discussion on incorporating their insights into the project.
Building on BoFs at RDA Plenaries 10 (Montreal), 11 (Berlin) and 12 (Gaborone), the IG for Research Funders and Stakeholders on Open Research and Data Management Policies and Practices held its inaugural meeting at RDA 13 (Philadelphia), with subsequent meets at RDA 14, 16 and a joint session with the Data Policy and Standardisation IG and FAIRshairing WG at RDA P17.
In advance of RDA 14, the IG developed and circulated a survey to research funders about open science policy, with the aim that the survey would inform the session discussions at RDA 14 and provide input into possible deliverables. It asked funders to describe their open science policies; identify open science “tools” (e.g. data management plans) that they require or recommend researchers to use, and comment on their usefulness; identify policy impacts and challenges, and comment on their significance; and identify topics of interest that they would like to see the IG work on. At RDA 14, the IG presented preliminary survey findings and sought input on possible future deliverables (e.g., case studies of topics of interest, etc.). The discussions and findings informed the development of the collaborative project on funder-publisher policy alignment, and the proposal for the collaborative project was discussed at RDA 16. Preliminary research findings from the project and possible engagement activities were discussed at RDA 17.
Research Funders and Stakeholders on Open Research and Data Management Policies and Practices IG
Co-chaired by representatives from the Wellcome Trust, National Institutes of Health, the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, with strong links to the RDA Funders Forum, the Research Funders and Stakeholders on Open Research and Data Management Policies and Practices IG aims to:
-
Provide a venue for funders to bring forward issues for discussion with the broader RDA community;
-
Develop deliverables useful to funders and, ideally, other members of the RDA community and research data ecosystem.
Building on BoFs at RDA Plenaries 10 (Montreal), 11 (Berlin) and 12 (Gaborone), the IG for Research Funders and Stakeholders on Open Research and Data Management Policies and Practices held its inaugural meeting at RDA 13 (Philadelphia), with subsequent meets at RDA 14 and 16, and a joint meeting at RDA P17. In advance of RDA 14, the IG developed and circulated a survey to research funders about open science policy, with the aim that the survey would inform the session discussions at RDA 14 and provide input into possible deliverables.
- 1368 reads