Presentation given to the SciDataCon #IDW2018 session: Democratising Data Publishing: A Global Perspective, on Tuesday 6th November 2018, Gaborone, Botswana

1. Facilitating good research data
management practice as part
of scholarly publishing
Varsha Khodiyar, PhD
RDA P12 , 6th Nov 2018
UnderstandingpastclimatesinAntarctica

2. 1
Practical challenges for researchers in data sharing
Understanding researcher behaviours globally
Stuart, David; Baynes, Grace; Hrynaszkiewicz, Iain; Allin, Katie; Penny, Dan; Lucraft, Mithu; Astell, Mathias (2018):
Whitepaper: Practical challenges for researchers in data sharing
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5975011.v1

3. 2
Survey report and raw data are freely accessible
Stuart, David; Baynes, Grace; Hrynaszkiewicz,
Iain; Allin, Katie; Penny, Dan; Lucraft, Mithu;
Astell, Mathias (2018): Whitepaper: Practical
challenges for researchers in data sharing
White paper
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5975011
Original survey data
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5971387

4. 3
Finding - What barriers do authors face in sharing data?

5. 4
Finding - Reasons for not sharing data differ between junior
and senior researchers

6. 5
Data Journals at Springer Nature
www.nature.com/scientificdata
https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com

7. 6
Queries are answered within two business days
Run by members of the Springer Nature Research Data team
Expertise in data curation and management, archiving and digital
preservation, copyright and licensing, Open Access publishing
Always encourage best practices, e.g. the use of community
repositories for specific data types
Email: researchdata@springernature.com
http://www.springernature.com/gp/group/data-policy/helpdesk
Springer Nature Research Data Helpdesk

8. 7
Have questions about research data? Ask the helpdesk
Astell, Mathias; Hrynaszkiewicz, Iain; Grant, Rebecca; Smith, Graham; Salter, Joseph (2018): Have questions about research data?
Ask the Springer Nature Helpdesk. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5890432.v2

9. 8
Springer Nature Research Data Support
Researchers
submit their
data files
securely
The Research
Data team
curates the data
and metadata
The data are
published and
linked to the
author’s paper
More information is available on our website here:
http://www.springernature.com/gb/group/data-
policy/data-support-services

10. 9
Our research data editors:
Enhance metadata of dataset(s) to improve discoverability and encourage
reuse
Check for presence of sensitive information and human identifiers
Apply DOIs to provide unique persistent links to dataset(s) and
enable citation of them
Link data to their associated article(s) and coordinate publication with
the article
Store data in the Springer Nature portal in the figshare repository

11. 10
No one other than the
creator can access the
data, or even knows that
it exists
Before data curation: a researcher’s dataset in a desktop
folder
The dataset is
stored as an
Excel file in a
desktop folder
The file title is not
comprehensible to
anyone but the
creator
No description or
keywords
available

12. 11
Before curation begins
Once received, we check to make sure that the
dataset is suitable for our curation services.
Multiple files in any format are accepted.
After making these checks, we begin the
curation process. If necessary we may
recommend that the dataset is split into
smaller groups or collections.
Pre-curation data checks:
✓The data aren’t sensitive
✓The data don’t include direct
or indirect human identifiers
✓The data shouldn’t be in a
community repository
✓The data are associated with
a trusted publication

13. 12
After Springer Nature Research Data Support
Working with the researcher’s manuscript or published paper, we draft a
comprehensive metadata record for the dataset which is sent to the researcher for
approval before being published. Embargoes can be applied if necessary.
The curated dataset will be published with
its own metadata record which includes
rich descriptive information, reuse
conditions, licence, DOI, metrics and
keywords
(this example is
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5259
415)

14. 13
Example output of Research Data Support
Paper published in
Nature (https://doi.org/
10.1038/nature23654)
Dataset published in the Springer
Nature figshare repository
(https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3
814360)
Data availability statement
included with the paper

15. 14

16. 15
Assessing value added through curation
References:
Embedding Research Data Management Support in the Scholarly Publishing
Workflow. Iain Hrynaszkiewicz Rebecca Grant (2018)
https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/brzwm
Smith, G., Grant, R., & Hrynaszkiewicz, I. (n.d.). Quality and completeness scores for
curated and non-curated datasets. [dataset] figshare.
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6200357

17. 16
Research data publishing options at Springer Nature
• Peer-reviewed data papers describing the generation of the dataset – data
journals such as Scientific Data, BMC Research Notes
• Research Data Support (RDS) available in several use cases, with new extensions
and workflows being tested and evaluated, including:
• Integrated optional service for data accompanying a paper undergoing
peer review at Springer Nature journal
• Stand alone optional service for data accompanying a previously published
paper or paper accompanying a paper in another publisher’s journal
• Journal/manuscript based service, where every accepted paper is
assessed by a Research Data Editor, and support given to follow best
practice, including deposition support and metadata record creation for
sensitive data. Free at point of use for authors.
• Institutional services (universities, conferences, funding agencies), several
use cases - see next slides.

18. 17
Research Data Support for institutions – use cases
Author would like to use Research Data Support but does not have
personal funds – costs can be covered by their institution, similar to open
access APCs
Institution uses a different repository platform to host their data but
needs to expand their research data management, support or data
curation services
Institution uses figshare to implement their data management and
deposition policy but has insufficient internal resources to manage the
repository and provide professional curation
Institution or other partner organisation would like to showcase research
data outputs in a branded area of the Springer Nature figshare repository
or would like to test demand for a repository on a smaller scale

19. 18
https://springernature.figshare.com/semweb

20. 19
• Removes the barrier of lack of funding for research data sharing
• Available to anyone with a Wellcome grant or affiliated to a
Wellcome centre
• Researchers remain in control of what they publish and choose
licence for their data
• Provides deposition and curation for all datasets without a
community repository
• Available to all research disciplines and file formats
• Makes the service freely accessible to researchers at many UK
institutions
• Available for research data supporting any publication in any journal
or publisher
Research Data Support pilot with Wellcome Trust
In July 2018, the Wellcome Trust partnered with Springer Nature on a pilot to make our
Research Data Support service available to all Wellcome-funded researchers at no cost to
the researcher.
https://researchdata.springernature.com/users/11717-iain-hrynaszkiewicz/posts/36248-
research-data-support-pilot-for-wellcome-funded-researchers

21. 20
Lessons learned and future plans
Researchers need help understanding data policies – of institutions, communities and
journals - and with preparing and sharing their data
Data sharing remains a “new” concept for some researchers and editors – it is important to
be pragmatic
Data deposition and curation support is valued by researchers and can increase metadata
quality. But the optimal point of use, service/support provider and workflow depends on
the needs of the researcher and their research/institution.
We have begun to make our service available for researchers who have already published
their research but have not shared their data yet – data sharing is not just important at the
point when the research is first published
We are offering services to institutions and funders who wish to support researchers with
data management but who don’t have internal capacity/resources to provide it

22. 2121
The story behind the image
Understanding past
climates in Antarctica
The permafrost at Table Mountain in Antarctica
is thought to be up to 20 million years old and
holds valuable clues to what the environment
was like in eras when temperatures and sea
levels were higher than they are today. With
recent studies showing that the environmental
temperature in which an organism lives is
encoded in their DNA, a research team from
New Zealand set out to sample sediment cores
to obtain ancient bacteria. These individual
bacterial cells were then sequenced,
reconstructed and analysed in order help
to identify the temperatures under
which the bacteria lived.
Thank you
Varsha.Khodiyar@nature.com
@varsha_khodiyar
Contact the Research Data team
researchdata@springernature.com
www.researchdata.springernature.com