Arsev Umur Aydinoglu

Data Sharing by Scientists: Practices and Perceptions

Background Scientific research in the 21st century is more data intensive and collaborative than in the past. It is important to study the data practices of researchers – data accessibility, discovery, re-use, preservation and, particularly, data sharing. Data sharing is a valuable part of the scientific method allowing for verification of results and extending research from prior results. Methodology/Principal Findings A total of 1329 scientists participated in this survey exploring current data sharing practices and perceptions of the barriers and enablers of data sharing. Scientists do not make their data electronically available to others for various reasons, including insufficient time and lack of funding. Most respondents are satisfied with their current processes for the initial and short-term parts of the data or research lifecycle (collecting their research data; searching for, describing or cataloging, analyzing, and short-term storage of their data) but are not satisfied with long-term data preservation. Many organizations do not provide support to their researchers for data management both in the short- and long-term. If certain conditions are met (such as formal citation and sharing reprints) respondents agree they are willing to share their data. There are also significant differences and approaches in data management practices based on primary funding agency, subject discipline, age, work focus, and world region. Conclusions/Significance Barriers to effective data sharing and preservation are deeply rooted in the practices and culture of the research process as well as the researchers themselves. New mandates for data management plans from NSF and other federal agencies and world-wide attention to the need to share and preserve data could lead to changes. Large scale programs, such as the NSF-sponsored DataNET (including projects like DataONE) will both bring attention and resources to the issue and make it easier for scientists to apply sound data management principles.

Collaborative interdisciplinary astrobiology research: a bibliometric study of the NASA Astrobiology Institute

AbstractnThis study aims to undertake a bibliometric investigation of the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) funded research that was published between 2008 and 2012 (by teams of Cooperative Agreement Notice Four and Five). For this purpose, the study creates an inventory of publications co-authored through NAI funding and investigates journal preferences, international and institutional collaboration, and citation behaviors of researchers to reach a better understanding of interdisciplinary and collaborative astrobiology research funded by the NAI. Using the NAI annual reports, 1210 peer-reviewed publications are analyzed. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) NAI researchers prefer publishing in high-impact multidisciplinary journals. (2) Astronomy and astrophysics are the most preferred categories to publish based on Web of Science subject categories. (3) NAI is indeed a virtual institution; researchers collaborate with other researchers outside their organization and in some cases outside the U.S. (4) There are prominent scholars in the NAI co-author network but none of them dominates astrobiology.

A Strategy for Origins of Life Research

Contents 1.u2002Introduction 1.1.u2002A workshop and this document 1.2.u2002Framing origins of life science 1.2.1.u2002What do we mean by the origins of life (OoL)? 1.2.2.u2002Defining life 1.2.3.u2002How should we characterize approaches to OoL science? 1.2.4.u2002One path to life or many? 2.u2002A Strategy for Origins of Life Research 2.1.u2002Outcomes—key questions and investigations 2.1.1.u2002Domain 1: Theory 2.1.2.u2002Domain 2: Practice 2.1.3.u2002Domain 3: Process 2.1.4.u2002Domain 4: Future studies 2.2.u2002EON Roadmap 2.3.u2002Relationship to NASA Astrobiology Roadmap and Strategy documents and the European AstRoMap u2002Appendix I u2002Appendix II u2002Supplementary Materials u2002References

Toward a New Understanding of Virtual Research Collaborations: Complex Adaptive Systems Framework

Virtual research collaborations (VRCs) have become an important method of conducting scientific activity; however, they are often regarded and treated as traditional scientific collaborations. Their success is measured by scholarly productivity and adherence to budget by funding agencies, participating scientists, and scholars. VRCs operate in complex environments interacting with other complex systems. A holistic (or organicist) approach is needed to make sense of this complexity. For that purpose, this study proposes using a new perspective, namely, the complex adaptive systems theory that can provide a better understanding of a VRC’s potential creativity, adaptability, resilience, and probable success. The key concepts of complex systems (diversity, interaction, interdependency, feedback, emergence, and adaptation) utilized in organization studies are used to discuss the behaviors of VRCs, illustrated with real-life examples.

Data management in astrobiology: challenges and opportunities for an interdisciplinary community.

Data management and sharing are growing concerns for scientists and funding organizations throughout the world. Funding organizations are implementing requirements for data management plans, while scientists are establishing new infrastructures for data sharing. One of the difficulties is sharing data among a diverse set of research disciplines. Astrobiology is a unique community of researchers, containing over 110 different disciplines. The current study reports the results of a survey of data management practices among scientists involved in the astrobiology community and the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) in particular. The survey was administered over a 2-month period in the first half of 2013. Fifteen percent of the NAI community responded (n=114), and additional (n=80) responses were collected from members of an astrobiology Listserv. The results of the survey show that the astrobiology community shares many of the same concerns for data sharing as other groups. The benefits of data sharing are acknowledged by many respondents, but barriers to data sharing remain, including lack of acknowledgement, citation, time, and institutional rewards. Overcoming technical, institutional, and social barriers to data sharing will be a challenge into the future.

Research Data Management in Turkey: Perceptions and Practices

Purpose n n n n nThe massive increase in research data being produced nowadays has highlighted the importance of research data management (RDM) to science. Research data not only have to be cost effective but also reliable, discoverable, accessible, and reusable. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions and practices of Turkish researchers on the subject of RDM. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nAn online survey was distributed to the academicians in 25 universities in Turkey, and 532 responses were gathered. n n n n nFindings n n n n nResults indicate that although Turkish researchers are aware of the benefits of data management, are willing to share their research data with certain groups, and have decent preservation habits, they express that they lack the technical skills and knowledge needed for RDM. In addition, no institutionalized support (staff, training, software, and hardware) is provided to researchers. n n n n nResearch limitations/implications n n n n nA well-structured data strategy or policy that includes resource allocation (awareness, training, software/hardware) and is supported by Turkish research agencies is required for better data management practices among researchers in Turkey. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThis is the first study that investigates the data practices of Turkish academics who produce around 30,000 scientific articles annually that are indexed by Web of Science. It contributes to the growing literature on RDM.

Origins of Life Research: a Bibliometric Approach

This study explores the collaborative nature and interdisciplinarity of the origin(s) of life (OoL) research community. Although OoL research is one of the oldest topics in philosophy, religion, and science; to date there has been no review of the field utilizing bibliometric measures. A dataset of 5647 publications that are tagged as OoL, astrobiology, exobiology, and prebiotic chemistry is analyzed. The most prolific authors (Raulin, Ehrenfreund, McKay, Cleaves, Cockell, Lazcano, etc.), most cited scholars and their articles (Miller 1953, Gilbert 1986, Chyba & Sagan 1992, Wȁchtershȁuser 1988, etc.), and popular journals (Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres and Astrobiology) for OoL research are identified. Moreover, interdisciplinary research conducted through research networks, institutions (NASA, Caltech, University of Arizona, University of Washington, CNRS, etc.), and keywords & concepts (astrobiology, life, Mars, amino acid, prebiotic chemistry, evolution, RNA) are explored.

Environmental Researchers’ Data Practices: An Exploratory Study in Turkey

This qualitative exploratory study probes the knowledge and attitudes of information science and environmental researchers in Turkey towards scientific data and information particularly in regards to sharing and preservation. Ten environmental scientists and two information scientists were interviewed. Results reveal that research data is stored mostly on personal computers. This raises two issues: organizational and technological sustainability. Environmental scientists in Turkey do not engage in data-intensive research. Data sharing is limited because of socio-cultural reasons. Although data collaboration is limited, there is an interest in international collaboration. According to the information scientists in Turkey, conversation on data management and data sharing has started but only in academic circles. Data practices are not mandated by funding agencies. The skill sets of information scientists are not fully utilized. For both environmental and information scientists, there is a long way to go.