Building a More Resilient Ecosystem for Publicly-Funded Research Data

"Federally-funded research data are a critical public good. Yet many of the repositories and infrastructures that steward these data face risks—both longstanding and emerging—from funding uncertainty and resourcing constraints to policy shifts and strained capacity.

Last November, the Center for Open Science (COS) announced our efforts to develop a community-driven strategic plan for ensuring the long-term preservation, accessibility, and usability of federally-funded scientific data. The Strategic Planning Committee has since been focused on a core question that is increasingly urgent for the research community: How do we build a more sustainable, resilient research data ecosystem that is resistant to single points of failure? 

Our strategic planning work is aimed at understanding, mapping, and monitoring these risks, while charting a path toward a more durable and resilient system for sharing, preserving, accessing, and using research data. The plan is also meant to leverage, coordinate with, and amplify existing complementary efforts to drive visibility and resourcing towards these critical initiatives.

Here, we’re sharing an update on the strategic planning process, which is anchored in three core pillars. The Committee will be heading into an in-person retreat in March to begin building out strategies to advance these pillars. Ahead of that work, we’re also soliciting community input to inform the development of the plan and ensure it reflects the needs and priorities of the research data ecosystem."