The RECODE project: enabling open access to research data - Research Information

"According to the European Commission, 'open access to scientific research data enhances data quality, reduces the need for duplication of research, speeds up scientific progress and helps in combating scientific fraud'.1 The development of open access to research data has also been facilitated by technological advancements that give rise to new ways of making use of data and opening up new opportunities for communication and collaboration among scientists. The increasing use of computational technologies, allowing the massive datasets to be explored, has in essence led to the transition in what has been termed the 'fourth paradigm of science' based on data-intensive computing or 'data-led science' which opens up new sources of knowledge through the development of digital means for producing, storing and manipulating data.2 Nonetheless, the transition to open access is neither easy to achieve nor cost free: it requires investments in infrastructure and technology, but more importantly it requires a change in research culture which takes time to take effect. In such a context, RECODE – an FP-7 funded project – has leveraged existing networks, communities and projects to address challenges within the open access and data dissemination and preservation sector by providing a space for European stakeholders to work together towards common solutions to shared challenges. To this end, RECODE has used five disciplinary case studies in open access to research data to examine four grand challenges: the open access ecosystem and the values of the stakeholders; legal and ethical concerns; infrastructure and technology challenges; and institutional challenges. The RECODE project identified two overarching issues in the mobilisation of open access to research data: a lack of a coherent open data ecosystem; and a lack of attention to the specificity of research practice, processes and data collections. The project findings have, in turn, fed-in the RECODE policy recommendations report on open access to research data targeted at key stakeholders: national governments and research funders; data managers; research institutions; and publishers. These recommendations will assist these stakeholders in furthering the goals of open access to research data in each of their organisations and networks by providing both over-arching and stakeholder-specific recommendations as suggestions to address and attend to these two issues ..."