Alma Swan is a well-known and respected consultant and investigator in the area of “the scholarly publication industry” and runs a blog (Key Perspectives) where she reports:
The increasing importance of data
NEW STUDY on the publication and quality assurance of research data outputs
The volume of data output from scholarly research is growing rapidly. This brings to the fore a whole range of issues about how data is created, used, assessed and maintained. A new study, funded jointly by RIN, NERC and JISC will investigate the following areas: (i) the role that data outputs currently play alongside or as an alternative to conventional publications in the reseach communication process; (ii) the nature and range of arrangements for making research data as widely available as possible; (iii) current practice for ensuring the quality of data. The study will be guided by some of the foremost scholarly data experts in the UK and will be completed by the end of 2007. Key Perspectives is delighted to have been selected to work on such a timely and important project.
I don’t want to steal Alma’s thunder – that’s why she has a blog – but just to report that she has done me the honour of asking me to be a consultant on this project. On Monday she travelled to Cambridge despite the west country floods and we spent 2 hours discussing the major issues and the people who would be best placed to give informed opinion. We are going to continue talking – which is always a pleasure – for the next few months.
This study is really important and Alma is very well placed to make the case for data. She has selected a number of disciplines – including crystallography – and will be looking at many aspects of policy and practice. She is fully aware of (and even fuller after Monday) of the importance that I attach to getting scientific data out freely to the scientific community.
I’ll let her tell the rest of the story as it unfolds.