Connecting open data to open access publishing: TU Delft library perspective | Septentrio Conference Series

Belliard, F., de Leeuwe, J., & Wang, Y. (2022). Connecting open data to open access publishing: TU Delft library perspective. Septentrio Conference Series, (1). https://doi.org/10.7557/5.6632

 

Abstract

Open data is becoming more and more a recognised research output in the research life cycle. Research validation and replication depend on open data which enriches the research output. Open data goes beyond the traditional article and book publishing format. As such open data reinforces Open Access (OA) publishing, and OA publishing reinforces open data. Open data and OA publishing stimulate collaboration and increase both the impact of research findings and the visibility of researchers and research groups.  

In the past years, funders and institutions developed independently policies that support open data and OA publishing. Researchers are increasingly required to publish OA and make their data open. The question is how we can evaluate the impact of Open data on OA publishing. Subsequently, to what extent does OA publishing influence open data? At the TU Delft, 82% of peer-reviewed articles and 71% of conference papers are published OA in 2021, but how many of those publications refer to open data? We have no records and no traceability processes in place to answer this question. As a consequence, few datastewards took on themselves to count manually the number of OA publications that include open data. It is nevertheless clear some changes need to occur to help open data and OA publishing joining forces. 

The current challenges and barriers faced could be reduced with an increase in OA research outputs (OA books or educational resources), a change in research culture and a change in reviewers’ practices. Recognising and rewarding data publishing; credit data review activities; developing a different workflow of the review process if including data review and requiring different expertise from the reviewers on the data review (data management and research insights) are realistic options. In parallel, new features of innovation for the publishing platform (open data review workflow, link to datasets for download) and for data repositories (quality badge on reviewed datasets, flexibility of incorporating review changes) are worth exploring.

There are few possible solutions or workaround available that could help all. We can make it easy for the researchers by connecting different blocks of open science and optimising the benefits with the Data Access Statement (DAS) as a standard section of the article template and with publishers providing a DAS template with basic requirements. For institutions, having a dashboard connecting all research outputs with DOIs together will be very beneficial. Another option is giving authors control of their publications by publishing their findings in an open peer-reviewed community-driven journal.

Our framework for connecting open data to OA publishing includes an OA publishing platform, data and publication repositories, a funding policy for OA publishing, expertise in Open Science and research lifecycle; and collaboration.

 

Who are the drivers of systemic change for Open Science? A library/publisher conversation with TU Delft and PLOS | Oct 13, 2022

“With paradigm shifting events like the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and other socio-economic-political upheavals taking place across the globe, the need for accessible, trustworthy research underpinned by a commitment to Open Science is more urgent than ever. UNESCO articulated this urgency in its 2021 Recommendation on Open Science (??https://en.unesco.org/science-sustainable-future/open-science/recommendation) and stakeholders across the science system have been working to bring about a truly open future in various ways. In this discussion on the state of Open Science in the Netherlands PLOS is joined by Dr. Irene Haslinger, Library Director at TU Delft. Back in 2019, the TU Delft has released its OS strategy and has expressed the ambition to be a frontrunner in this area. She will be addressing the question: Who are the drivers of systemic change when it comes to Open Science? Should libraries be mere facilitators, or can they do more to ensure an equitable transition to this open future? And what distinctive role can mission-oriented scientific publishers play? Joining Dr. Haslinger will be Dr. Marcel LaFlamme, Open Research Manager at PLOS, Dr. Anke Beck, Regional Director of Publishing Development (Europe), and Sara Rouhi, Director of Strategic Partnerships….”

EDP Sciences – EDP Sciences and TU Delft conclude a publish and read transformative agreement

“We are pleased to report that EDP Sciences has signed a transformative agreement with the Dutch university TU Delft. The agreement covers 2022-2024 and allows corresponding authors from TU Delft to publish a number of open access articles each year in any EDP Sciences journal without paying article processing charges (APCs)….”

‘Open science is just science done right’

“The whole topic of open access, open data, open science comes out of a big change in the publishing industry. It was about how to deal with this freedom of the World Wide Web, which was thought to be very idealistic. Everybody could talk to everybody and exchange ideas and share knowledge. Then there was this coup by the big publishers who grabbed and shut everything down. That made the costs rise and the international library world was fed up with it.

The open movement is really growing and I was one of the people who started it at TU Delft. At the time we got help from Karel Luyben (former Rector Magnificus) who asked us to make people aware of it in faculty meetings, so I became a regular guest at those. Then we did a kind of roadshow in 2015 going around to every department at TU Delft, 44 of them. It took a year visiting one a week and talking about open access publishing, but also research data management. We met all of these people and they were interested but wanted to know what was in it for them because it takes a lot of work to put your publications and data sets out in the open.

It’s very important to know your author’s rights and give your work the right licences so people know what they are allowed to do with your work. How to make it reusable but also how to get cited for your work. We don’t want people to put it there and not get credit for it. It’s a lot of work with data managing and making data FAIR, because we said it should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. We asked for more hands and the Executive Board allowed us to hire data stewards for each faculty. That was a big step….”