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On behalf of the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU) and the Dutch Taskforce on Responsible Management of Research Information and Data (click here for more information about the taskforce), Dialogic has researched the feasibility of an Open Knowledge Base (OKB).
The metadata on scientific outcomes such as publications, datasets, software, educational materials, and public-oriented communication, contains critical information on science funded by the government. This information should be freely available without any restrictions. Therefore, the metadata should be easily discoverable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, allowing other users or service providers to create compelling use cases unhindered.
Our research reveals two core values for an OKB. Firstly, safeguarding academic independence by opening up the metadata and indicators underlying scientific evaluation and becoming less dependent on private enterprises for data and software provision. Secondly, enhancing and expanding the quality and coverage of available metadata in the Dutch landscape of infrastructures for scientific communication.
Our feasibility study demonstrates that an OKB is both feasible and desirable. An important opportunity for an OKB that we identify is the establishment of a feedback loop between institutional databases (CRIS systems) and the OKB. This allows for the enhancement of metadata coverage and quality in an OKB by integrating, harmonising, and enriching metadata from multiple sources including participating CRIS systems, open infrastructures (e.g., CrossRef, Orcid, ROD), and research intelligence services. These improvements and enrichments can be fed back to institutional CRIS systems for enhancing metadata and reporting at a local institutional level.
The report has been published by the VSNU and can be viewed here.
Interested in knowing more about this feasibility study? Then get in touch with Max Kemman.