OECD publishes guidelines on research data access
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published a set of principles and guidelines designed to make access to publicly funded research data easier. Some OECD countries already have policies and practices for access to research data, including agencies and institutions in Canada, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. But researchers and scientists seeking to share data with peers in other countries can face hurdles ranging from technological issues of interoperability to legal and policy issues around intellectual property rights and the protection of privacy. To address this, the OECD document provides broad policy recommendations to the governmental science policy and funding bodies of its member countries on access to research data from public funding. These are intended to promote data access and sharing among researchers, research institutions, and national research agencies, while at the same time recognising and taking into account the various national laws, research policies and organisational structures of member countries. Areas for which guidelines are provided include: transparency; legal conformity; protection of intellectual property; formal responsibility; professionalism, interoperability; quality and efficiency, security; accountability and sustainability.