International Open Access Week is an annual scholarly communication event which focuses on Open Access and related topics and takes place every year in the last week of October. The theme for this year's Open Access week is “Open with Purpose: Taking Action to Build Structural Equity and Inclusion". In light of this theme, the Library and Information Service decided to put the spotlight on Open Data as an aspect of Open Science and inform the research community regarding the importance of Open Data as well as showcasing the growth of SUNScholarData, the institutional Research Data repository managed by the Library.
Open Data is a sub-component that exists within the broader context of Open Research. It owes its existence largely to the increasingly prominent role which research data have come to play in the world of scholarly research. The impetus behind making research data openly accessible has been a desire to democratise the data so that any person could access such data free of constraints such as paywalls. However, the need itself goes beyond this and is linked to certain positive benefits which can flow out to the rest of society. Examples of this include but are not limited to the following: Improvements in the quality of research data; compliance with certain ethical and legal requirements; a reduction in the duplication of data collection efforts; an increase in the diffusion of information and ultimately knowledge throughout society and the broader dissemination of research data.
The final point cannot be over-emphasised enough. The fact that members of society can now access research data more readily on account of its openness leads to a more inclusive and equitable outcome. The outcome is inclusive in the sense that it enables more people than ever before to access research data owing to the elimination of access barriers. Not only is such an outcome inclusive, but it also levels the playing field by giving individuals who do not have financial resources just as much a chance of accessing the research data as those who are financially well-resourced. In the absence of access costs, the consumption of research data can be expected to increase. Considering that the production of research data has been increasing in the recent past, it is not surprising to observe increases in the consumption of research data over that same time period. Assuming that all other factors remain constant, the expected outcome is that a greater level of inclusivity and equity pertaining to the dissemination of research data would be attainable in the future.
Research data can be made openly accessible in one of the following ways: Supplementary data published along with journal articles; data articles published as stand-alone data papers in data journals and data published via digital data repositories.
Historically researchers have tended to make their research data openly accessible by publishing supplementary data along with their scholarly publications. However, not all academic publishers mandate the publication of research data. As such, there has generally been more scope to improve the degree to which research data could be made more openly accessible. The advent of research data repositories has changed the nature of the research publication landscape somewhat in this respect by filling this void.
In recognising the important role that research data repositories can play in facilitating the dissemination of open scientific data, Stellenbosch University set up and launched its very own institutional research data repository, SUNScholarData, on 12 August 2019.
SUNScholarData can be used for the registration, archival storage, sharing and dissemination of research data produced or collected in relation to research conducted under the auspices of Stellenbosch University. The repository has a public interface which can be used for finding content. It also has private user accounts which can be used by Stellenbosch University users in order to upload, share or publish their research data. In addition to this Stellenbosch University researchers can also use SUNScholarData in order to collaborate with researchers from other institutions.
The first dataset was deposited in SUNScholarData on the 7 August 2019. Since then the number of deposits has increased at a modest rate and now totals 84 datasets. Some 21 of these datasets have been published and are openly accessible. The datasets have been viewed 9,564 times and generated 1,559 downloads since August 2019.
In addition to permitting the deposit of research data, SUNScholarData's system facilitates the bulk-linkage to supplementary data originally submitted to academic publishers. Currently this is only possible with supplementary data associated with the Public Library of Science's (PLOS) journals. On 16 September 2020, a total of 3,508 PLOS datasets were linked to SUNScholarData. These datasets cover a time-period ranging from 2006-2020 and provide a broad view of openly accessible research data that span across several academic disciplines.
SUNScholarData provides several benefits which can be harnessed by Stellenbosch University researchers. The greatest benefit which researchers who have published research data on SUNScholarData have experienced is the increased visibility which the repository brings to their research data. As SUNScholarData is visible and accessible online it is certainly better than the option of storing research data on local as well as external hard drives. Furthermore, the repository stores research data securely in accordance with recognised ISO standards. The research datasets are curated prior to publication, thus ensuring quality and by extension trustworthiness. SUNScholarData facilitates compliance with research funder mandates, which may require that the research data associated with funded research be shared publicly upon the completion of research projects. SUNScholardata also facilitates compliance with the policies of academic publishers, which sometimes mandate that the research data underpinning research publication be published via research data repositories.
Researchers interested in learning more about SUNScholarData are welcome to contact the Manager: Research Data Services of the Library at ssimango@sun.ac.za
Samuel Simango
