Open Data in Global Environmental Research: The Belmont Forum's Open Data Survey

Birgit Schmidt; Birgit Gemeinholzer; Andrew Treloar

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0146695

Open Data in Global Environmental Research: The Belmont Forum's Open Data Survey

PLoS One. 2016 Jan 15;11(1):e0146695. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146695. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Birgit Schmidt¹, Birgit Gemeinholzer², Andrew Treloar³

Affiliations

¹ State and University Library, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
² Systematic Botany, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
³ Australian National Data Service, Melbourne, Australia.

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of the Belmont Forum's survey on Open Data which targeted the global environmental research and data infrastructure community. It highlights users' perceptions of the term "open data", expectations of infrastructure functionalities, and barriers and enablers for the sharing of data. A wide range of good practice examples was pointed out by the respondents which demonstrates a substantial uptake of data sharing through e-infrastructures and a further need for enhancement and consolidation. Among all policy responses, funder policies seem to be the most important motivator. This supports the conclusion that stronger mandates will strengthen the case for data sharing.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Cooperative Behavior
Environment*
Information Dissemination*
Research*

Grants and funding

The authors received no direct funding for this work; however, the work was done in the context of the Belmont Forum’s E-Infrastructure and Data Management Collaborative Research Action (CRA), http://www.bfe-inf.org/. (See the note on the website: The Belmont Forum E-Infrastructures and Data Management Collaborative Research Action is supported by the participating Belmont Forum members listed at http://www.bfe-inf.org/info/participating-countries. This site is managed by a joint United States-United Kingdom Secretariat, supported by the US National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1358990 and the UK Natural Environment Research Council under Grant Ref NE/LO14319/1.)