Are data repositories fettered? A survey of current practices, challenges and future technologies
ISSN: 1468-4527
Article publication date: 24 August 2021
Issue publication date: 2 June 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore current practices, challenges and technological needs of different data repositories.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was designed for data repository managers, and contact information from the re3data, a data repository registry, was collected to disseminate the survey.
Findings
In total, 189 responses were received, including 47% discipline specific and 34% institutional data repositories. A total of 71% of the repositories reporting their software used bespoke technical frameworks, with DSpace, EPrint and Dataverse being commonly used by institutional repositories. Of repository managers, 32% reported tracking secondary data reuse while 50% would like to. Among data reuse metrics, citation counts were considered extremely important by the majority, followed by links to the data from other websites and download counts. Despite their perceived usefulness, repository managers struggle to track dataset citations. Most repository managers support dataset and metadata quality checks via librarians, subject specialists or information professionals. A lack of engagement from users and a lack of human resources are the top two challenges, and outreach is the most common motivator mentioned by repositories across all groups. Ensuring findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) data (49%), providing user support for research (36%) and developing best practices (29%) are the top three priorities for repository managers. The main recommendations for future repository systems are as follows: integration and interoperability between data and systems (30%), better research data management (RDM) tools (19%), tools that allow computation without downloading datasets (16%) and automated systems (16%).
Originality/value
This study identifies the current challenges and needs for improving data repository functionalities and user experiences.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0204
Keywords
Acknowledgements
In the interest of transparency, data sharing and reproducibility, the author(s) of this article have made the data underlying their research openly available. It can be accessed by following the link: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14191739
Funding: This study was funded by the University of Wolverhampton.
Citation
Khan, N., Thelwall, M. and Kousha, K. (2022), "Are data repositories fettered? A survey of current practices, challenges and future technologies", Online Information Review, Vol. 46 No. 3, pp. 483-502. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0204
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited