"Publishing data long-term with an accompanying journal publication can produce a large number of citations which will be good for your career in the Research Excellence Framework" -- said Michael Wilson, a researcher associated with the MRC Psycholinguistic Database, who presented this finding at the e-Science All-Hands Meeting in Edinburgh last month.

Edinburgh DataShare is an institutional data repository set up by the Data Library to help researchers do just this. It uses the same DSpace software as the Edinburgh Research Archive, ERA, and operates in tandem with the Publications Repository to provide a place for researchers to share the datasets on which their published papers are based.

[University Newsletter article announcing the soft launch of Edinburgh DataShare, a project deliverable and pilot service.]

A write-up of this workshop by Martin Donnelly. Includes a summary of the DataShare project manager's talk about Edinburgh's experience reaching out to potential depositors in the University and how we are using the Data Audit Framework Implementation project as an adjunct to this ongoing effort. Also includes interesting summaries of talks by other players in terms of data sharing at the University of Edinburgh.

Quoted: The RIN report "To share or not to share: Publication and quality assurance of research data outputs" (June 2008) presents the findings from a study of whether or not researchers do make their research data available to others, and the issues they encounter when doing so.

The theme is the complications of making mashups from external data sources, which may not be standardised or consistent.

Publication and quality assurance of research data outputs - a RIN/JISC/NERC commissioned report investigating (i) the nature and range of arragements for making research data as widely available as possible and (ii) the role that data outputs currently play alongside or as an alternative to conventional publications in the research communication process. The short project will be completed by Jan. 2008

"Data sharing is catching on with sites like Swivel and ManyEyes making it possible to display, remix, and compare a wide range of data. As the practise of sharing biodata in online banks becomes more common, what are the implications for intellectual property and patient confidentiality?" (links to a 3 page article from First Author)

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