The RIN, supported by JISC and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), has commissioned a project to investigate, with reference to selected areas of the scholarly spectrum, (i) the nature and range of arrangements for making research data as widely available as possible (‘data publishing’) and (ii) the role that data outputs currently play alongside or as an alternative to conventional publications in the research communication process....
The study, initiated in June 2007, is being undertaken on behalf of the joint funders by the Key Perspectives consultancy....
[T]he objectives are to add to the current state of knowledge by gathering evidence on: ...
Access and use
Access arrangements for the data, taking account of any legal, ethical and other constraints; associated with this, IPR related to the collection and presentation of data.
The needs of the communities using data, especially in the context of rapid technological change and the methodologies stemming from e-research and the development of the semantic web.
To meet those needs, the different ways and environments in which the data are disseminated and published (important note: ‘publishing’ here is defined in the broadest possible sense, to cover all the mechanisms and channels used to make data accessible to users).
The extent to which data outputs complement or replace the reporting of research results in scholarly journals or books; relationships and linkages between data and such information outputs....
The project will serve as a basis for subsequent work that will seek to assess the evidence gathered through the present study and present conclusions and recommendations regarding the evolution of the data publication environment. This second project will be commissioned as soon as possible following the completion of the present study....
The project is due to be completed at the end of 2007.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/12/2007 08:56:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
