[Open-access] HEFCE (UK) seeking advice on open access & open data research evaluation

[Cameron Neylon]

I'd take a somewhat different approach to worrying about whether data sharing should be enforced by HEFCE. HEFCE by its nature has to be a very conservative organisation as it has to give guidance up to five years ahead across the whole community of what assessment mechanisms need to be in place and how things will be judged. That data even gets a mention is therefore a real step.

The big opportunity here is to focus on the actual assessment mechanisms. How can we configure the development of the actual assessment mechanisms so that they reward efforts to enable re-use (including provision of data, software, etc). if we get that right then we create a tension that guides people towards data sharing because it aligns with their interests rather than creating a requirement, which will just mean people do the minimum required. My sense is that there is a real opportunity to configure REF2020 along the lines that will develop and reward best practice as it changes over the next seven years.

Cheers

Cameron

On 27 Feb 2013, at 01:18, Douglas Carnall wrote:

> On 26 February 2013 11:00, Ross Mounce <ross.mounce at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> [me:] Has sufficient progress been made in science so that Open Data
>> research outputs must be made available for research evaluation?
> 
> tl;dr: Do not assume "the research community" is a homogenous group!
> 
> I'd agree with Daniel Mietchen's remark that the research community at
> large is not yet ready for this. Indeed, at a recent University of
> Sussex seminar that discussed the issue,* I got the impression that
> some researchers would sooner renounce their claim to be 'scientists'
> than publish the 'disclosive data' yielded by the interview
> transcripts on which their qualitative research is based. Meanwhile,
> the hard sciences race ahead, limited as much by server space and
> bandwidth, as by any ethical, social or political considerations.
> 
> *[my notes: http://juliusbeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/lecture-notes-on-internet-method-n1743.html]
> 
> Regards to all,
> 
> D.
> -- 
> Douglas Carnall
> dougie.carnall at gmail.com
> 
> http://cabinetbeezer.info
> 
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