Incorporating data sharing to the reward system of science. Linking DataCite records to authors in the Web of Science
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-01-2017-0024 |
| Date | 18 September 2017 |
| Published date | 18 September 2017 |
| Pages | 545-556 |
| Author | Philippe Mongeon,Nicolas Robinson-Garcia,Wei Jeng,Rodrigo Costas |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management |
Incorporating data sharing to the
reward system of science
Linking DataCite records to authors
in the Web of Science
Philippe Mongeon
École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information (EBSI),
Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Nicolas Robinson-Garcia
INGENIO (CSIC-UPV), Polytechnic University of Valencia, València, Spain
Wei Jeng
Department of Library and Information Science,
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan and
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, and
Rodrigo Costas
CWTS –Centre for Science and Technology Studies,
Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands and
Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST),
Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose –It is widely recognizedthat sharing data is beneficialnot only for science but also for the common
good, and researchers are increasingly expected to share their data. However, many researchers are still not
making their data available, one of the reasons being that this activity is not adequately recognized in the
current rewardsystem of science. Since the attributionof data sets to individual researchers is necessaryif we
are to include them in research evaluation processes, the purpose of this paper is to explore the feasibility of
linking data set recordsfrom DataCite to the authors of articles indexedin the Web of Science.
Design/methodology/approach –DataCite and WoS records are linked together based on the similarity
between the names of the data sets’creators and the articles’authors, as well as the similarity between the
noun phrases in the titles of the data sets and the titles and abstract of the articles.
Findings –The authors report that a large number of DataCite records can be attributed to specific authors
in WoS, and the authors demonstrate that the prevalence of data sharing varies greatly depending on the
research discipline.
Originality/value –It is yet unclear how data sharing can provide adequate recognition for individual
researchers. Bibliometric indicators are commonly used for research evaluation, but to date no large-scale
assessment of individual researchers’data sharing activities has been carried out.
Keywords Web of Science, Bibliometrics, Data sharing, Research evaluation, DataCite,
Reward system of science
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The idea that the raw data used in scientific research should be made available to other
scholars is more than a century old. When the journal Biometrika was founded in 1901,
it aimed to publishraw biometric data, as well asthe results of future analyses basedon these
data (The spirit of Biometrika, 1901). Raw data available to the publicand other researchers
were perhaps not easilydone in the print era, hence, research datahave traditionally been left
out of the social contract of scientific publishing (Vision, 2010) as well as from the reward
system of science (Costas et al., 2013). Callsfor the development of a data sharing culture and
Aslib Journal of Information
Management
Vol. 69 No. 5, 2017
pp. 545-556
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2050-3806
DOI 10.1108/AJIM-01-2017-0024
Received 13 January 2017
Revised 4 May 2017
11 May 2017
16 May 2017
Accepted 26 May 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2050-3806.htm
545
Incorporating
data sharing
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