Between administration and research: Understanding data management practices in an institutional context

Stefan Egon Reichmann*, Thomas Klebel, Ilire Hasani-Mavriqi, Tony Ross-Hellauer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Research Data Management (RDM) promises to make research outputs more transparent, findable, and reproducible. Strategies to streamline data management across disciplines are of key importance. This paper presents results of an institutional survey (N = 258) at a medium-sized Austrian university with a STEM focus, supplemented with interviews (N = 18), to give an overview of the state-of-play of RDM practices across faculties and disciplinary contexts. RDM services are on the rise but remain somewhat behind leading countries like the Netherlands and UK, showing only the beginnings of a culture attuned to RDM. There is considerable variation between faculties and institutes with respect to data amounts, complexity of data sets, data collection and analysis, and data archiving. Data sharing practices within fields tend to be inconsistent. RDM is predominantly regarded as an administrative task, to the detriment of considerations of good research practice. Problems with RDM fall in two categories: Generic problems transcend specific research interests, infrastructures, and departments while discipline-specific problems need a more targeted approach. The paper extends the state-of-the-art on RDM practices by combining in-depth qualitative material with quantified, detailed data about RDM practices and needs. The findings should be of interest to any comparable research institution with a similar agenda.
Translated title of the contributionZwischen Verwaltung und Forschung: Praktiken des Datenmanagements im institutionellen Kontext
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1415-1431
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology
Volume72
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2021

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Information Systems and Management
  • Information Systems
  • Library and Information Sciences
  • Computer Networks and Communications

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