OECD recommendation on data sharing:
More sharing of research data will yield benefits
In the future it will be just as natural to share research data as it is today to share research results through publishing.
When researchers from different countries can use the same data, research quality is enhanced. (Photo: Shutterstock)
This is according to Anders Hanneborg, Executive Director of the Division for Science at the Research Council. The OECD has issued a recommendation to make all publicly funded research data accessible to other researchers and research institutions. Norway is morally but not legally bound to implement the recommendation.
Putting it into practice
Anders Hanneborg (Photo: Eva Brænd)
The OECD guidelines are loosely formulated and say little about how they should be put into practice. The key Norwegian stakeholders - the Ministry of Education and Research, Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions, national committees for research ethics, and the Research Council - held a seminar in January on how to implement the guidelines in Norway in the future. The question of what is needed to facilitate data sharing among researchers was addressed.
"We want to be in close dialogue with research communities, and we want to give our input to the Ministry of Education and Research on the progress and design of national practices and guidelines. The Research Council will also help to finance efforts to adapt and standardise the research data. The large funding announcement for research infrastructure that is now active opens up possibilities in this direction," says Mr. Hanneborg.
Sound economy
Tora Aasland (Foto: Andreas B. Johansen
Minister of Research and Higher Education Tora Aasland states that the new OECD guidelines support key Norwegian research policy objectives. They also promote a sound economy.
"When researchers from different countries can use the same data, research quality is enhanced. The probability of uncovering deficiencies and errors in the data increases, and greater accessibility enables many more researchers to test a variety of research questions and get more out of the same data set. There are also democratic and ethical reasons for making data accessible," explains Minister Aasland.
Long process
Gro Helgesen, Special Adviser at the Research Council, notes that a number of technological, administrative, financial and legal issues must be clarified before national standards for this area are drawn up. She has followed the process in the OECD as well as nationally since 2000. "The OECD has ended up with recommendations which are flexible and give wide latitude for national adjustments, but which are also completely in line with long-standing Norwegian policy in this area," Ms. Helgesen says.
Good starting point in Norway
In some areas Norway has come far in making publicly funded research data accessible to everyone. For instance, social science researchers benefit greatly from efforts by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) and Statistics Norway to adapt data for use in research. Moreover, the general statutory framework in Norway does not prevent making data accessible to the public.
Most Norwegian research communities, however, require better access to data than they have today as well as joint solutions that involve good systems for data sharing. According to Associate Director of NSD Vigdis Kvalheim, the main challenge is not technology - it is structural issues and the research communities' commitment to changing their own practices. "There is no question that we have a good starting point for implementing effective solutions here in Norway," Ms. Kvalheim concludes.
- Published:
- 12.02.2009
- Last updated:
- 12.02.2009
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Contact
- Gro Helgesen Special Adviser +47 22 03 71 56 gh@forskningsradet.no
