New Web-Based Model for Sharing Research Datasets Could Have Huge Benefits

A group of scientists has proposed creating a new web-based data network to help researchers and policymakers worldwide convert existing information into practical applications and technologies, and improve innovation policy and science.

Researchers worldwide have created datasets that, if interlinked with other datasets and made more widely available could provide the needed groundwork for policy and decision makers. But these datasets are spread across countries, data providers, and scientific disciplines and appear in a range of inconsistent forms.

Writing in the October 19, 2012, issue of the journal Science, seven researchers recommend a new data network that can help bring this knowledge together and make it available to all. The benefits to society from such a network are clear, according to Dr. Bruce Weinberg, coauthor of the paper and professor of economics at Ohio State University (Columbus, USA. “Such a network could help scientists, policymakers, and business people take the knowledge that is now locked in scientific publications and create new technologies and applications,” Dr. Weinberg said. “This is a key to economic growth.”

This new model’s approach is to make data accessible, according to Dr. Laurel Haak, coauthor of the study and executive director of ORCID (Bethesda, MD, USA), an international, open, interdisciplinary, and not-for-profit organization formed to provide a registry of unique identifiers for researchers. “Researchers lament the lack of data sharing. But a new data infrastructure has the potential to overcome that problem and potentially transform research practice itself,” Dr. Haak said.

The investigators reported that one key to making this project work is to have a unified set of standards between platforms and databases. One straightforward example is that databases frequently have different ways of identifying authors. In one database, an author may be listed as “John A. Smith” whereas another would list the same individual as “J.A. Smith.” Other researchers would have no way of determining if these two records referred to as the same author.

“We need a coordination of data exchange standards to make this effort work,” said David Baker, coauthor and executive director of Consortia Advancing Standards in Research Administration Information (CASRAI), a nonprofit standards development organization. This new data infrastructure should only be a “thin layer” on top of the database structures that already exist, according to Mr. Baker. “It needs to work seamlessly with the databases and platforms we already have in place. “It shouldn’t add another layer of complexity.”

One major matter is achieving broad-based participation in this effort, according to coauthor Gregg Gordon, president and CEO of the Social Science Research Network. “We need to have participation from researchers in all fields, whether they work in multinational corporations, nonprofits, government agencies or universities,” Mr. Gordon said. “We need all the different players to work together to make this effort successful.”

Users of the infrastructure would utilize the public data and tools for free, pay for access to private areas and tools, and apply for access to security-sensitive part of the system. The investigators emphasized that no single organization can manage this infrastructure alone. Governments, nonprofits, and for-profits must all collaborate. They foresee a steering committee comprised of members of the major data providers, including government agencies, private data vendors, standards organizations, as well as the research community.

Whereas much research needs to be performed, the researchers remarked that the effort will be worth it. “The model we propose provides tremendous benefits from combining and mining the vast quantities of data that are already available,” the authors concluded.

Related Links:
Ohio State University
ORCID