Academics’ perspectives on open research data : a pre-implementation study for the University of Malta

Abstract

University institutional repositories around the world have increased the visibility of the intellectual property of academic institutions. Implementation of such repositories has given rise to discussions about the value of open science and open access to research. Such research includes peer-reviewed publications and the data collected for the purpose of these publications. Research data is an important component as it may be used to verify the results and to generate new insights. However, researchers may not always be willing to share this information for a number of reasons, including intellectual property rights, financial constraints and the time that needs to be invested to make sure that the data is re-usable and interoperable. Access to data may also allow other researchers and the general public to verify the results and challenge their interpretation. Data may also be used to produce different outputs. Those in support of the open data movement argue that transparency is fundamental to democracy and that people have the right to access data that has been gathered through public funding. On the contrary, data sharing raises a multitude of issues related to confidentiality, intellectual property rights, data protection and so forth. The aim of this dissertation is to explore the possibility of opening access to digital data for research funded by the University of Malta, which is a parastatal entity. This will essentially serve as a pre-implementation study for putting in place a policy that requires academic members of staff to share their data. Collaboration by academics is key to the success of such a venture, therefore their point of views and concerns will be explored.