Question - Research data

06 Mar 2022

Dear all,

I am a PhD candidate in Information Science at Federal Fluminense University in Brazil  and I have a question about research data that perhaps you can help me with.

There are certain kinds of research where you do not collect empirical data, but only deal with bibliographic data. For instance, in pure theoretical research.

In that case, it makes sense to me that the core bibliographic data used should be described under certain criteria, with selected metadata, in order, for instance, to be reused by other researchers dealing with similar subjects. So, the question is: can I consider these data (the bibliographic ones, described with metadata - and including the metadata) research data?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Best regards,

Laura

  • Shelley Stall's picture

    Author: Shelley Stall

    Date: 07 Mar, 2022

    Laura,
    From our experience at AGU and with our authors, we would highly encourage you to share the bibliographic data you collected. It certainly is a valuable contribution to research. Interestingly, what you are describing could be interpreted as a set of citations that you put into your references. That indeed would create links between your new theoretical publication and the referenced papers. However, your research likely includes more information about the nature of these references that you could put into a dataset for others to explore.
    My recommendation would be to do both.
    1. Place relevant paper citations in the references section in order to create those links and give credit to prior work.
    2. Preserve the dataset (i.e., the metadata for the papers) in a repository, identify it in the availability statement, and cite it ALSO in the references as a valuable collection for others to use.
    I hope that helps.
    Shelley Stall
    From: <***@***.***-groups.org> on behalf of Laura Rocha via Engaging Researchers with Data IG <***@***.***-groups.org>
    Reply-To: "***@***.***" <***@***.***>
    Date: Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 10:07 AM
    To: Engaging Researchers with Data IG <***@***.***-groups.org>
    Subject: [researcher-engagement-ig] Question - Research data
    Dear all,
    I am a PhD candidate in Information Science at Federal Fluminense University in Brazil and I have a question about research data that perhaps you can help me with.
    There are certain kinds of research where you do not collect empirical data, but only deal with bibliographic data. For instance, in pure theoretical research.
    In that case, it makes sense to me that the core bibliographic data used should be described under certain criteria, with selected metadata, in order, for instance, to be reused by other researchers dealing with similar subjects. So, the question is: can I consider these data (the bibliographic ones, described with metadata - and including the metadata) research data?
    Thanks in advance for your help.
    Best regards,
    Laura
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    Shelley Stall
    Senior Director, Data Leadership
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  • Laura Rocha's picture

    Author: Laura Rocha

    Date: 09 Mar, 2022

    Dear Shelley,

     

    Thank you very much for your help, especially regarding the preservation of metadata in a repository. In fact, the idea is to provide information obtained by the researcher from the analysis of the central bibliographic records used in his research. Most of this information would be closely related to the methodological procedures applied.

    Regards,
    Laura

  • Lindsey  Anderson's picture

    Author: Lindsey Anderson

    Date: 07 Mar, 2022

    Hi Laura, 

    I would agree with Shelley that both the empirical and bibliographical research data metadata provide value to any collection intended for reuse. Bibliographic data collections for open citation that contain additional supplementary structured metadata files (information/criteria for reuse) would allow other researchers in future citation instances to correlate any extended version of the knowledge captured in your initial theoretical publication back to that collection of origin. I can see this being applied in various linguistic applications that merge both theoretical and experimental semantic knowledge structures (unbiased to subject or domain). In addition to other RDA working groups, the Research Metadata Schemas WG provide RDA endorsed recommendations under the "Guidelines for publishing structured metadata on the web" in the citation listed below if that is also of help. I would also suggest exploring complimentary metadata repositories to include deposited metadata for your bibliographic data collection that has the ability to connect to other knowledge/language platforms and maintains flexible export options for citation reuse (other groups may have further guidance on this).

    Wu, Mingfang, Juty, Nick, RDA Research Metadata Schemas WG, Collins, Julia, Duerr, Ruth, Ridsdale, Chantel, Shepherd, Adam, Verhey, Chantelle, & Castro, Leyla Jael. (2021). Guidelines for publishing structured metadata on the web (3.1). https://doi.org/10.15497/RDA00066 

  • Laura Rocha's picture

    Author: Laura Rocha

    Date: 10 Mar, 2022

    Hi Lindsey,

    Thank you so much for your help and guidance. I will read the suggested document and also consult the Research Metadata Schemas WG for other relevant information. I also appreciate the tip about the complementary metadata repositories, which can be an important source for consultation on existing initiatives.

    Regards,
    Laura

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