Public Access to Research Results:Response to BESAC Charge

Report given byJohn Tranquada, BNL

August 2, 2011

Data

Charge

Describe current policies and practices for disseminating research results in the fields relevant to the Basic Energy Sciences program.

… your report should be sensitive to the differences between written findings and digital data …

Driver: America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010

Sec. 103. Interagency Public Access Committee.The Director shall establish a working group … with the responsibility to coordinate Federal science agency research and policies related to the dissemination and long-term stewardship of the results of unclassified research, including digital data and peer-reviewed scholarly publications, supported wholly, or in part, by funding from the Federal science agencies.

BESAC Discussion Group

• Bill Barletta, MIT• Kate Kirby, APS• Simon Bare, UOP• Ernie Hall, GE• Sharon Hammes-Schiffer, Penn State• John Tranquada, BNL, discussion leader

Conference call June 30; follow-up by e-mailRequested report deadline: July 1

The criteria for dissemination and who makes this determination

• Researchers determine what and when to publish

• Strong motivation: Publish or perish• In hiring, promotion, and funding decisions,

quantity and quality of peer-reviewed publications are important criteria

• This satisfies DOE and user facility policy requirements that supported results be disseminated.

The criteria for dissemination and who makes this determination (2)• Peer review establishes the level of supporting

data and analysis required to substantiate a conclusion

• Journals perform the peer-review function• Editors, recruited from research community– Specify standards and scope– Select peer reviewers– Rely on reviewers to help enforce standards

The criteria for dissemination and who makes this determination (3)• Raw digital data: the research community does

not require that these be publicly disseminated• Selections of data presented in graphical form are

generally sufficient• Sharing of digital data between groups is typically

done on an informal basis• Computational chemists: frequently provide all

necessary info to reproduce a calculation in supplementary material

How access is provided and controlled

• Access to peer-reviewed papers is provided through journal web sites (and print)

• Content can be freely searched• Full-text viewing may require a subscription– Access to single articles can be purchased

• In some communities, manuscripts may be posted on open-access preprint servers (e.g., arXiv); OK with many publishers

Whether the access comes with additional functionality

• Common features:– Hyperlinks for references– Lists (and hyperlinks) of later papers that cite a

given paper– Articles in portable document format (pdf)• Easily printable

The version of the written material or data provided

• Version of Record is controlled and stewarded by publisher

• Preprints remain accessible on open access servers; can be updated by authors, with hyperlinks to VOR

Whether peer review is a condition of dissemination

• Peer review is the standard for formal dissemination

• Manuscripts often made available prior to peer review– Prepared with anticipation of peer review

The institution, DOE facility, or other body by which the policy is currently upheld

• Publication of research results is a fundamental process of the research community– Research society journals pre-date DOE, NSF

• Common practice satisfies policies of institutions, DOE facilities, etc.

Whether, in addition to dissemination, long-term stewardship is accounted for by the existing policy or practice

• Journal publishers currently provide long-term stewardship– Most have made all back issues available on web– Sustainability depends on maintaining a viable

economic model• Public archives, such as arXiv, intend to

provide long-term stewardship

Aaron Swartz, a 24-year-old agitator for free access to information on the Internet who managed to download more than four million articles and reviews onto his laptop computers from a subscription-only digitalstorehouse. … in 2008 he promoted a Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto … that said it was imperative to “take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world.”

Raw Digital Data

• Raw measurement data have a finite useful lifetime

• Retention practices and policies– Keep for more than 1 year, less than 10 years

• Old data are not sacred– Research emphasis is on improved samples,

measurement techniques and processes– New, better data supplant old

Example of a Data Archive

The RCSB PDB is managed by two members of the RCSB: Rutgers and UCSD, and is funded by NSF, NIGMS, DOE, NLM, NCI, NINDS, and NIDDK.

They store 3D atomic coordinates

Not raw data

… The fundamental aim of peer review, the report says, is to ensure research publications are scientifically sound and enable others to reproduce the work. Given that gold standard, the report recommends that unless there is a strong reason against it, all data should be fully disclosed and made publicly available at time of publication, particularly if it is the outcome of publicly funded research. That recommendation, however, has prompted some concern. "In our experience, most misunderstandings from scientific research come from an absence of meaning and context … [and] Preparing and scrutinising papers for publication is a vital part of establishing the meaning and context," says Tracey Brown of the pressure group Sense About Science. "It is not clear from the Committee's report what the problem is that would be addressed from raw data publication nor the other costs and effects of demanding it."