Do Researchers Dream of Research Data Management?

Abstract

The ongoing digitalization of academic work processes has led to a shift in academic work culture where researchers are supposed to take on more responsibility in term of adequate data management. Third party funding institutions as well as high class journals are increasingly asking for standardized data management processes and started to set up policies which should guide researchers to manage their data properly. In this work, we deal with the highly IS relevant topic of research data management (RDM) and provide an overview of the different existing research data management guidelines of the eight biggest governmental funded institutions and the biggest politically-independent institution. All existing guidelines of those institutions were considered in a qualitative analysis, summarized and evaluated. It has been found that non-technical requirements evolve to non-technical barriers, which institutions need to address to a greater extent within their guidelines to promote scientific research. This work shows the shift in the understanding of RDM and provides the present perspective which help researchers to better understand the ongoing trend of RDM within science.