Are data repositories fettered? A survey of current practices, challenges, and future technologies
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore current practices, challenges, and technological needs of different data repositories. Design An online survey was designed for data repository managers and contact information from the re3data data repository registry was collected to disseminate the survey. Findings In total 189 responses were received, including 47% discipline specific and 34% institutional data repositories. 71% of the repositories reporting their software used bespoke technical frameworks, with DSpace, EPrint, and Dataverse being commonly used by institutional repositories. 32% of repository managers reported tracking secondary data reuse while 50% would like to. Among data reuse metrics, citation counts were considered extremely important by the majority, followed by links to the data from other websites and download counts. Despite their perceived usefulness, repository managers struggle to track dataset citations.Most repository managers support dataset and metadata quality checks via librarians, subject specialists or information professionals. A lack of engagement from users and a lack of human resources are the top two challenges, and outreach is the most common motivator mentioned by repositories across all groups. Ensuring FAIR data (49%), providing user support for research (36%) and developing best practices (29%) are the top three priorities for repository managers. The main recommendations for future repository systems are - integration and interoperability between data and systems (30%), better research data management tools (19%), tools that allow computation without downloading datasets (16%) and automated systems (16%). Originality This study identifies the current challenges and needs for improving data repository functionalities and user experiences.Citation
Khan, N., Thelwall, M. and Kousha, K. (2021) Are data repositories fettered? A survey of current practices, challenges, and future technologies. Online Information Review, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0204Publisher
EmeraldJournal
Online Information ReviewAdditional Links
https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0204Type
Journal articleLanguage
enDescription
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in Online Information Review on 24/08/2021, available online at: https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0204 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.ISSN
1468-4527ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0204
Scopus Count
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/