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Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS), Phase II, Research Purpose for Participants

Background Information
Research Streams
Research Stream #1: Following NIH Researchers Prospectively

Research Stream #1: Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
Research Stream #1: Informed Consent
Research Stream #1: Survey Instruments

Research Stream #2: Surveying Funded Researchers Retrospectively

Research Stream #2: Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
Research Stream #2: Informed Consent
Research Stream #2: Survey Instruments

Research Stream #3: Surveying Administrators Retrospectively

Research Stream #3: Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
Research Stream #3: Informed Consent
Research Stream #3: Survey Instruments

Institutional Review
Plans to Make Results Available
Contact Information

Background Information

In 2023, the Association of Research Libraries was awarded a US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grant (LG-254930-OLS-23) to continue research into institutional expenses for public access to research data. This research builds upon work done during the first phase of the Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) Initiative, specifically to identify areas of strategic investments for libraries and institutions to support data management and sharing. 

In collaboration with Duke University, the University at Buffalo, the University of Minnesota, and Washington University in St. Louis, all whom are members of the Data Curation Network (DCN), this research will answer the following questions:

  • What are the different service and cost models institutions implement to support research data management and sharing policies?
  • What is the direct expense to the institution, and specifically the academic library, to implement federally mandated data-sharing policies?
  • What is the cost to the researcher to comply with the funded research data-sharing policies?

To answer these questions we will build upon the mixed-methods research protocols produced in the first phase of the RADS Initiative (NSF #2135874). This prior work focused on understanding where researchers share their data, the completeness of the metadata supporting that data, and institutional expenses for public access to research data at six academic institutions in five disciplinary areas. Extending this exploratory work, the goal of the IMLS-funded research is to accelerate our knowledge and understanding of expenses and service models for a wider range of disciplines and academic institutions, thereby guiding strategic investments for research libraries and institutions. 

Research Streams

To accomplish these goals we are employing three research streams, which will occur from 2024–2026. Each of these streams is detailed below.

Research Stream #1: Following NIH Researchers Prospectively

Recognizing that research data sharing activities occur throughout the research lifecycle, from post-award to project closeout, from approximately 2024 to 2026, we will be meeting with NIH-funded researchers quarterly to understand their activities and expenses related to making their data publicly available. 

Research Stream #1: Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

The following are the criteria required to participate in this research stream:

  • Be at least 21 years old
  • Have a project/award and name listed in the NIH award database
  • Be funded by the NIH after January 25, 2023, the date the new NIH Data Management and Sharing policy came into effect
  • Have an award type with data sharing requirements, as outlined in the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing policy
  • Have a funded award with a duration of approximately two years, so that data sharing practices and expenses can be captured throughout the award/project life cycle
  • The principal investigator (PI) must be currently employed at one of the participating RADS institutions and have a valid institutional email address

* Awards pulled from the NIH award database will be manually assessed to determine which projects best align with the RADS award period.

Research Stream #1: Informed Consent

Research Stream #1: Survey Instruments

Research Stream #2: Surveying Funded Researchers Retrospectively

We will be surveying researchers retrospectively about their activities and data-sharing expenses throughout the lifecycle of one of their funded research projects.

Research Stream #2: Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

The subject population, comprising researchers/Principal Investigators, will be identified by extracting award information from funder databases. This will include recipients of awards from 2018 to 2023, who are based at the participating RADS study institutions. The following funders will be considered: the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Research Survey Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria:

  • Be at least 21 years old
  • Have a project/award and name listed in the DOE award database, the NASA award database, the NEH award database, the NIH award database, the NSF award database, or the USDA award database
  • Have been funded between 2018 and 2023
  • The award must have been completed between 2018 and 2023
  • The award type must typically have data-sharing requirements (e.g., teaching grants that do not produce data requiring sharing are excluded)
  • Did not respond/participate in the 2022 RADS Phase I survey to funded researchers
  • The principal investigator (PI) must be currently employed at one of the participating RADS institutions and have a valid institutional email address

Research Stream #2: Informed Consent

  • Available soon.

Research Stream #2: Survey Instruments

Research Stream #3: Surveying Administrators Retrospectively

The research aims to assess how academic institutions support public access to research data by interviewing administrators about their data management activities and related costs. This study builds on previous work, focused on the costs of staffing, infrastructure and services, expanding the focus to fiscal year 2023/2024. Research will be conducted via structured guided interviews with approximately 100–120 administrators across the participating RADS institutions.

Research Stream #3: Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

The subject population will consist of between 20 and 30 institution administrators who lead departments that support activities, services, or infrastructure required for public access to research data. The subject population may include, but is not limited to, individuals from the following offices or departments: General Counsel, Sponsored Projects Office, Office of Information Security, Research Office, Medical School Research Office, Campus IT, Libraries, Research Computing, and Research Compliance.

Recruitment will consist of personalized email invitations sent directly by researchers to the administrators’ work emails, which are publicly available or accessible to all institution employees. This initial email will introduce the project to potential participants and generate interest in completing the survey.

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Be at least 21 years old
  • Administrators must be currently employed at the institution and have a valid institutional email address
  • Administrators must have knowledge of, or access to, expense data related to the costs of data-sharing activities, services, support, and infrastructure within their unit

Research Stream #3: Informed Consent

  • Available soon.

Research Stream #3: Survey Instruments

All Data Collection Instruments

Research Stream #1: Prospective NIH Researchers

Research Stream #2: Retrospective Funded Researchers

  • Researcher Survey—Available Soon

Research Stream #3: Retrospective Administrators 

  • Institutional Infrastructure Survey for Administrators—Available Soon

Institutional Review

ARL does not have its own institutional review process. Therefore, each institution participating in the RADS study submitted an application to their respective Institutional Review Board (IRB) separately. Each institutional IRB issued an exempt status for the project on the following dates:

  • Duke University — Protocol No.: 2024-0383, approved April 17, 2024
  • University at Buffalo — IRB ID: STUDY00008203, approved March 12, 2024
  • University of Minnesota — IRB ID: STUDY00015842, approved June 7, 2022; amendment approved April 25, 2024
  • Washington University in St. Louis — IRB ID: 202206111, approved May 1, 2024

Plans to Make Results Available

Research data from this award, LG-254930-OLS-23, will be shared and made publicly available. Deidentified data will be made available for reuse through at least one institutional repository of the participating institutions. Data from phase one of this study are available in the Washington University in St. Louis WashU Research Data repository, https://doi.org/10.7936/6rxs-103654. 

Results from this study have been, and will continue to be, broadly disseminated through conference presentations and materials, scholarly articles, organizational blog posts, and as part of publicly available reports published on ARL’s website and in institutional repositories. A list of up-to-date research outputs is listed on the main RADS web page. 

All assets resulting from this award are or will be licensed as Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) to allow for the broad sharing and adaptation of the materials.

Contact Information

Association of Research Libraries

  • Shawna Taylor, Project Manager, Open Science

Email: staylor@arl.org 

Data Curation Network

  • Mikala Narlock, Director, Data Curation Network

Email: mnarlock@umn.edu 

Duke University

  • Joel Herndon, Director of the Center for Data and Visualization Sciences, project co-PI
    Email: joel.herndon@duke.edu 

University at Buffalo

  • Jake Carlson, Associate University Librarian for Research, Collections and Outreach, University of Buffalo, project co-PI
    Email: jakecarl@buffalo.edu 

University of Minnesota

  • Alicia Hofelich Mohr, Research Support Coordinator, Liberal Arts Technologies and Innovation Services (LATIS), project co-PI
    Email: hofelich@umn.edu  

Washington University in St. Louis

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Affiliates

CNI
Library Copyright Alliance
IARLA