Practice Article

Paving the Way For Data‑Centric, Open Science: An Example From the Social Sciences

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION Data has moved into the spotlight as an important scholarly output that should be shared with the scientific community for replication and re-use in new contexts. This has a direct impact on libraries, archives, and other service providers in the data curation and access landscape. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT The GESIS Data Archive for the Social Sciences (DAS) has been curating and disseminating social science research data since 1960. The article presents tools, services, and strategies developed by the DAS to support the research community in adequately responding to the legal, ethical, and practical challenges that the transformation towards data-centric, open science presents. These include GESIS’s Secure Data Center, the data publication platform “datorium” and a recent project to create a georeferencing service for survey data. LESSONS LEARNED The experiences gained through these activities show that getting involved—now, rather than further down the road—pays off in that it allows service providers to actively shape the ongoing transformation. At the same time, by cooperating with suitable partners, the effort and investment of resources can be kept at a manageable level for individual organizations.

How to Cite:

Recker, A., Müller, S., Trixa, J. & Schumann, N., (2015) “Paving the Way For Data‑Centric, Open Science: An Example From the Social Sciences”, Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication 3(2), eP1227. doi: https://doi.org/10.7710/2162-3309.1227