Hi all,

At Loughborough University we have been having some discussions about ways of assessing the usage and impact of data shared online. One of the things we talked about was having a registration system for accessing research data and we wondered what you think of this. We can see some obvious benefits to knowing who is accessing and using these data, particularly if individuals can be contacted and are willing to provide a testimonial/impact case study. Other benefits might be in providing evidence of use/impact to secure on-going institutional support for RDM and contact with data users may identify opportunities for future collaboration. However, there are also potential drawbacks to a system whereby users have to register for access to data:

· Would potential data users regard the request to register as a barrier to accessing data sufficient to put them off?

· Similarly, how would people respond to having to provide their details for each dataset they wish to view/download?

· Would this be regarded as non-compliance with funders’ policies?

· Would managing registrations place too much of an administrative burden on the University?

· Would the administrative burden of managing registrations be offset by a reduction in workloads associated with the REF in providing evidence of impact?

We would be interested to hear what your views are on registration for access to research data.

Kind regards,

Sue

Dr Sue Manuel

Research Data Management Project Manager

Research Office

Loughborough University

Tel: 01509 228287

Fax: 01509 223953

Email: [log in to unmask]