UKSG Conference 2015 - EPSRC research data management requirements Ben Ryan EPSRC
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The document outlines the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) research data management principles, emphasizing the importance of making research data publicly accessible while observing necessary restrictions. It details the responsibilities of research organizations and researchers in managing and sharing data, along with expectations for compliance and data preservation. Key aspects include the need for adequate resources, effective data curation, and transparency in how data can be accessed or restricted.
UKSG Conference 2015 - EPSRC research data management requirements Ben Ryan EPSRC
- 1. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Research Data Management ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL Ben Ryan Senior Manager, Research Outcomes
- 2. Underpinning Philosophy Data is a critical output of the research process which should be shared: to reinforce the integrity, transparency and robustness of the research record to increase its potential value through aggregation to enable new research questions to be addressed to support the wider exploitation of data 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 2
- 3. RCUK Principles – an overview Research Data… o is a Public Good – to be made available responsibly o has long-term value – the need for preservation o should be Discoverable and Citeable o is subject to legitimate constraints – it cannot all be shared equally Researchers should have a period of privileged access to ‘their’ data Data users should cite their sources – and abide by terms of access! The Bottom Line: looking after and sharing research data is… part of the research process a legitimate use of research budgets 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 3
- 4. EPSRC’s RDM Principles & Expectations…. 30-31 March 2015UKSG - Glasgow 4
- 5. Some bizzare comments… “The nature of my work is such that it generates no data that doesn't end up in my papers, so I'm unlikely to know about these policies.” “This is irrelevant to me. I deal with no sensitive data.” “As I do not work with empirical data I am not affected by RDM.” “I am on the point of retiring so taking less interest in these things” “RDM sounds like a gigantic waste of time and I intend to spend as little time on it as possible” 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 5
- 6. How EPSRC Policy affects… Research Organisations Research Organisations have primary responsibility for ensuring that researchers manage their data effectively. They need established infrastructure and processes to ensure: retained EPSRC-funded research data preserved for a minimum of 10-yrs effective data curation provided throughout full data lifecycle knowledge of publicly-funded research data holdings discoverability; recording of 3rd party access requests notice/ justification of access restrictions, e.g. ‘commercially confidential’ awareness/use of relevant law e.g. FOI awareness/compliance with research data policies adequate RDM resource allocation (e.g. from QR/Research Grants) 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 6
- 7. How EPSRC Policy affects… Researchers/Grant-holders They have a responsibility to understand - and adhere to - EPSRC’s principles and expectations for research data management. They should: make EPSRC-funded research data freely/openly available with as few restrictions as possible comply with the RDM policies of their Research Organisation have project specific RDM plans in place have appropriate agreements, if relevant, with collaborators ensure published research describes how to access supporting data (also a requirement of the RCUK Policy on Open Access) be aware/make use of relevant legislation and available exemptions as needed to justify withholding research data 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 7
- 8. How EPSRC Policy affects… Non-Academic Partners Non-Academic Partners in research collaborations need to be aware of: the general principle - publicly-funded research data is expected to be made freely and openly available with as few restrictions as possible the relevant legal requirements such as the Freedom of Information Acts the need to ensure issues of data ownership, confidentiality etc. are adequately addressed in RDM plans and collaboration agreements - before the start of a collaborative research project! Data sharing agreements may be appropriate 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 8
- 9. Clarifications 30-31 March 2015UKSG - Glasgow 9
- 10. Clarifications Expectation I Research organisations will promote internal awareness of these principles and expectations and ensure that their researchers and research students have a general awareness of the regulatory environment and of the available exemptions which may be used, should the need arise, to justify the withholding of research data; What we mean… Promoting internal awareness is expected to be an on-going part of ‘business as usual’ induction and refresher training 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 10
- 11. 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 11 Expectation II Published research papers should include a short statement describing how and on what terms any supporting research data may be accessed. What we mean… • Consistent with the RCUK policy on Open Access • Applies to all papers which acknowledge EPSRC funding and are published after 1 st May 2015. • Doesn’t apply to research papers which are not supported by research data (e.g. pure maths…?) • We rely on researchers making informed judgements! • Can be satisfied by including persistent links (URLs) to the data (or to data documentation)
- 12. Expectation III Each research organisation will have specific policies and associated processes to maintain effective internal awareness of their publicly-funded research data holdings and of requests by third parties to access such data; all of their researchers or research students funded by EPSRC will be required to comply with research organisation policies in this area or, in exceptional circumstances, to provide justification of why this is not possible. What we mean… • Pragmatic - applies primarily to data held by the research organisation; • Will help inform future decisions whether to keep specific datasets • Does not apply to data deposited in an external repositories but we believe research organisations will find such information a valuable indicator of impact. 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 12
- 13. Expectation IV Publicly-funded research data that is not generated in digital format will be stored in a manner to facilitate it being shared in the event of a valid request for access to the data being received (this expectation could be satisfied by implementing a policy to convert and store such data in digital format in a timely manner) What we mean… • Research data doesn’t have to be digitised, • If it isn’t digitised it needs to be stored so that it could be accessed if necessary – valid requests shouldn’t be rejected ‘because it’s physically too awkward’ to share. 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 13
- 14. 30-31 March 2015UKSG - Glasgow 14 Expectation V Research organisations will ensure that appropriately structured metadata describing the research data they hold is published (normally within 12 months of the data being generated) and made freely accessible on the internet; in each case the metadata must be sufficient to allow others to understand what research data exists, why, when and how it was generated, and how to access it. Where the research data referred to in the metadata is a digital object it is expected that the metadata will include use of a robust digital object identifier (For example as available through the DataCite organisation - http://datacite.org). What we mean… • Focus on making data discoverable and accessible, ‘normally within 12 months of the data being generated’ • Some flexibility of timing – justify exceptions, otherwise: • Not more than 12 months after end of grant • Not later than any publication which depends on the data • For data underpinning a publication, can be satisfied by a resolvable citation to the data. • Flexible on standards – use what is most appropriate to achieve the object.
- 15. 30-31 March 2015UKSG - Glasgow 15 Expectation VI Where access to the data is restricted the published metadata should also give the reason and summarise the conditions which must be satisfied for access to be granted. For example ‘commercially confidential’ data, in which a business organisation has a legitimate interest, might be made available to others subject to a suitable legally enforceable non-disclosure agreement. What we mean… • Protect 3 rd -party data, subject to consent. • Personal/sensitive data – take extra care / precautions! • Consider IP protection for commercially valuable data (publication delay may be justified while protection put in place) • All, including collaborators, should recognise the responsibility to ensure that publicly funded research findings can be scrutinised and if necessary validated by others.
- 16. Expectation VII Research organisations will ensure that EPSRC-funded research data is securely preserved for a minimum of 10-years from the date that any researcher ‘privileged access’ period expires or, if others have accessed the data, from last date on which access to the data was requested by a third party; all reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that publicly-funded data is not held in any jurisdiction where the available legal safeguards provide lower levels of protection than are available in the UK. What we mean… • Pragmatic about ‘access’ – the point is to keep data that’s proving useful to others; data citations/other metrics could demonstrate value... • Not expected to keep data that has attracted no interest for more than 10 years. • Provided published research findings can still be validated, it may be more cost effective to preserve the means to recreate data instead of preserving the data themselves 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 16
- 17. 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 17 What we mean: • If in doubt about ‘how’, seek Digital Curation Centre (www.dcc.ac.uk) advice. Expectation VIII Research organisations will ensure that effective data curation is provided throughout the full data lifecycle, with ‘data curation’ and ‘data lifecycle’ being as defined by the Digital Curation Centre. The full range of responsibilities associated with data curation over the data lifecycle will be clearly allocated within the research organisation, and where research data is subject to restricted access the research organisation will implement and manage appropriate security controls; research organisations will particularly ensure that the quality assurance of their data curation processes is a specifically assigned responsibility.
- 18. Expectation IX Research organisations will ensure adequate resources are provided to support the curation of publicly-funded research data; these resources will be allocated from within their existing public funding streams, whether received from Research Councils as direct or indirect support for specific projects or from higher education Funding Councils as block grants. What we mean: Subject to two simple rules, all costs associated with RDM are eligible expenditure of research grant funds. Further guidance available at http://bit.ly/1hhXu0u The rules: 1. No expenditure can be ‘double funded’ (a central service funded from indirect costs cannot also be charged as a direct cost) 2. All directly incurred expenditure of a grant must be incurred before the end date of the grant. Research offices are advised to ensure DMPs exist and appropriate resource for RDM is requested in all research proposals 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 18
- 19. Compliance Monitoring Before Summer Break: Pro-VCs (Research) to complete ‘light-touch’ questionnaire After Summer Break: dip-stick checking data availability for publications (published after 1st May) Follow up of any complaints that an organisation we fund is failing to manage data in line with our expectations. Longer term – formal self-assessment and dipstick checking by RC Audit & Assurance Services Group 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 19
- 20. Currently, in RCUK… The RCUK Research Outputs Network (RCUK-RON) is actively developing shared guidance on interpreting the RCUK Principles – individual council policies still stand. No major philosophical differences identified – it’s the nature of the data itself that is most often behind differences in policy wording/approach Common position on funding for RDM already adopted 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 20
- 21. N.B. a ‘recent’ development… The 2014 Intellectual Property Bill amended the Freedom of Information Act 2000: “Information obtained in the course of, or derived from, a programme of research is exempt information if— (a) the programme is continuing with a view to the publication… …of a report of the research (whether or not including a statement of that information), and (b) disclosure of the information… …before the date of publication would, or would be likely to, prejudice— (i) the programme, (ii) the interests of any individual participating in the programme, (iii) the interests of the authority which holds the information, or (iv) the interests of the authority mentioned in paragraph (a) (if it is a different authority from that which holds the information).” ‘Public Interest’ test still applies 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 21
- 22. Thank You Find the full policy and expectations on EPSRC website: Ben Ryan Senior Manager, Research Outcomes, EPSRC ben.ryan@epsrc.ac.uk 30-31 Mar 2015UKSG - Glasgow 22 Home > About us > Our service standards > EPSRC Policy Framework on Research Data
Editor's Notes
- #7: Stress that researchers should find out what their organisations are doing in RDM – many have online resources available and/or run local training sessions If they are not satisfied they should press for more! Policy Announced May 2011 EPSRC acknowledged significant changes/investment might be required, including some over the medium-long term. Full compliance expected by 1st May 2015 - over 70% of organisations holding EPSRC grants, including all our Framework and Strategic Partners, have confirmed they expect to be able to comply by the 2015 deadline EPSRC will monitor compliance on a case by case basis. In cases of non-compliance, and in particular if it appears that proper sharing of research data is being obstructed, EPSRC reserves the right to impose appropriate sanctions.
- #8: Discrimination is important – ultimately we consider researchers best placed to decide what to keep, including in relation to published research. Contrary to some suggestions, there is no obligation to keep everything indefinitely. The landscape has evolved since EPSRC policy was published in 2011 – Government’s ‘Open Data’ white paper and the Royal Soc. report ‘Science as an Open Enterprise’ both published in June 2012. We recognise there are challenges in meeting our May 2015 deadline – ‘new ground’ is being broken – e.g. standards for metadata to describe research data and associated supporting systems are still being developed, and new long-term storage options are appearing in the market. A lot of training has still to be done…. More later after the next slide
- #9: Data sharing agreements can cover the parties to whom, and purposes for which, data are released; the conditions (including ethics committee approvals) of use of the data; any specific confidentiality/security obligations; arrangements for transferring, and support with using, the data; any costs that may need to be met; the handling of intellectual property, publication, authorship and acknowledgement; the return of any cleaned or derived variables, and when data destruction or secure archiving are to be carried out.
- #21: Nuances between ‘data behind the paper’ and ‘data due for release’, and data originating from 3rd parties which may require access consent or be restricted.