5:15 PM - 7:15 PM
[U06-P06] Activities at National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) towards implementation of recent open access policies in Japan
Keywords:Open science, Open data, DOI , DMPs
The National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) is Japan's only public research institute focusing on a wide range of environmental research such as global environmental issues, biodiversity, health risks due to chemical substances, and material cycles, in an interdisciplinary and comprehensive manner. The NIES consists of two main departments: a research department that conducts these studies and an administration department that supports these research activities. The Environmental Information Division (EID) is a key component of the administration department, which provides environmental information to the public, disseminates research results, and manages the information system infrastructure and library to support research activities. In October 2023, the EID was reorganized to incorporate researchers from the research department and enhance the collaboration needed to discuss effective utilization of environmental information and research results. The data produced by the NIES is diverse. It includes not only data obtained from observations and numerical calculations, which are relatively easy to make public, but also results from social surveys and data from the life science, which are difficult to disclose, so the progress of data release at the NIES varies by field. The EID supports managing and releasing research data for the entire institute. In this presentation, we report on our activities towards the implementation of recent open access policies in Japan.
Since 2016, the NIES has been supporting DOI assignments for research data upon request from researchers. The EID is responsible for creating and managing landing pages and registering DOIs to ensure permanent access to the data. Additionally, the NIES has been operating an institutional repository, NIES Repository, to collect, store, and disseminate our research outputs such as publications, reports, and journal articles since 2022. Recently, many publishers have requested that evidence data for research papers be made publicly accessible. Furthermore, some policies in Japan require immediate open access to journal articles and the management and utilization of research data resulting from publicly funded research projects. To facilitate the use of the NIES Repository for storing such data, we have refined the registration process, strengthened our operational system, and established operational guidelines.
The NIES also supports the creation of metadata when publishing research data by using Excel sheets. These sheets, originally designed for data registration for the NIES Repository, have been updated to utilize for release from repositories managed and operated by the NIES research department and DOI assignments. The metadata schema includes the "Common Metadata Items" required by the open access policies in Japan.
We have also created pamphlets and FAQs to provide information on frequently asked questions, such as how to choose a data repository and obtain DOIs.
Recently, funding agencies have required the creation of research data management plans (DMPs). The NIES provides support for the preparation of DMPs in cooperation with the Research Collaboration Division, which is one of the administration departments and mainly handles external fundings. In particular, the EID provides information on the infrastructure for management and publication of research data available at the NIES, policies and guidelines to be followed for handling research data such as information security and data policies, and examples of DMPs at the NIES.
The NIES continues to provide support to reduce the burden on researchers so that they can respond to these open access requirements. Additionally, we need to develop research data management and publication infrastructures in an effort to promote open science.
Since 2016, the NIES has been supporting DOI assignments for research data upon request from researchers. The EID is responsible for creating and managing landing pages and registering DOIs to ensure permanent access to the data. Additionally, the NIES has been operating an institutional repository, NIES Repository, to collect, store, and disseminate our research outputs such as publications, reports, and journal articles since 2022. Recently, many publishers have requested that evidence data for research papers be made publicly accessible. Furthermore, some policies in Japan require immediate open access to journal articles and the management and utilization of research data resulting from publicly funded research projects. To facilitate the use of the NIES Repository for storing such data, we have refined the registration process, strengthened our operational system, and established operational guidelines.
The NIES also supports the creation of metadata when publishing research data by using Excel sheets. These sheets, originally designed for data registration for the NIES Repository, have been updated to utilize for release from repositories managed and operated by the NIES research department and DOI assignments. The metadata schema includes the "Common Metadata Items" required by the open access policies in Japan.
We have also created pamphlets and FAQs to provide information on frequently asked questions, such as how to choose a data repository and obtain DOIs.
Recently, funding agencies have required the creation of research data management plans (DMPs). The NIES provides support for the preparation of DMPs in cooperation with the Research Collaboration Division, which is one of the administration departments and mainly handles external fundings. In particular, the EID provides information on the infrastructure for management and publication of research data available at the NIES, policies and guidelines to be followed for handling research data such as information security and data policies, and examples of DMPs at the NIES.
The NIES continues to provide support to reduce the burden on researchers so that they can respond to these open access requirements. Additionally, we need to develop research data management and publication infrastructures in an effort to promote open science.