Digging deeper into data citations: recognizing and rewarding data work

Research Evaluation, vol. 35

Abstract

Abstract Citations and metrics are central features in evaluating academic careers. As researchers increasingly engage in open science, data citations have emerged as potential mechanisms for evaluating and rewarding data sharing and reuse in academic assessments. Despite this, we still lack critical information about the data citation practices and motivations of researchers themselves, information which is needed to contextualize the use of such metrics. Here, we present the results of a semi-structured interview study with researchers across disciplines exploring their data referencing practices and motivations, as well as how they would like their ‘data work’ (including data sharing) to be rewarded and evaluated. As a whole, our findings confirm a lack of standard practices for referencing data and provide new insights into the social and scientific reasons motivating data referencing. While our results show an overall skepticism toward the use of citation-based metrics in evaluations, they also suggest that researchers are caught between traditional and emergent modes of assessment for recognizing data work. Furthermore, we find that rather than valuing data citations as rewards, our participants value creating data objects which are useful for their (often small) research communities. Ultimately, we conclude that data work is a cornerstone of research practice which needs to be evaluated and considered, but one which also requires context-aware approaches.

Authors 7

1. Kathleen Gregory corresponding Aachen Centre for Science and Technology Studies

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University , Kolffpad 1 , 2333 BN Leiden,

2. Stefanie Haustein

   University of Ottawa · Université du Québec

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Information Studies, Scholarly Communications Lab, University of Ottawa, Observatoire des Sciences et des Technologies (OST), Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur la Science et la Technologie (CIRST), Université du Québec , 55 Laurier Avenue East , Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5,

3. Constance Poitras

   Université de Montréal

   Affiliation as printed

   École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information, Université de Montréal , 3200 rue Jean-Brillant , Montreal, QC H3T 1N8,

4. Emma Roblin

   University of Ottawa

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Information Studies, Scholarly Communications Lab, University of Ottawa , 55 Laurier Avenue East , Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5,

5. Anton Ninkov

   Université de Montréal

   Affiliation as printed

   École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information, Université de Montréal , 3200 rue Jean-Brillant , Montreal, QC H3T 1N8,

6. Chantal Ripp

   University of Ottawa

   Affiliation as printed

   Digital Transformation and Innovation, University of Ottawa , 55 Laurier Avenue East , Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5,

7. Isabella Peters

   ZBW – Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft · Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

   Affiliation as printed

   ZBW Leibniz Information Center for Economics & Kiel University , Duesternbrooker Weg 120 , 24015 Kiel,