Dynamics of cumulative advantage and threats to equity in open science: a scoping review

Ross-Hellauer, Tony; Reichmann, Stefan; Cole, Nicki Lisa; Fessl, Angela; Klebel, Thomas; Pontika, Nancy

doi:10.1098/rsos.211032

Cited by 64 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 252 publications

(327 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This observation is linked to the realization that depending on the geographic location of the user request the availability of the metadata/data may vary considerably which raises considerable questions. Most pertinent, it becomes important to question whether assigning a FAIR accessibility score to metadata/data could create a false sense of access that undermines existing discussions about inequity in Open Science (Bezuidenhout et al, 2017b ; Ross-Hellauer et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Fair Data: the New Cornerstone Of Responsible Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the A in FAIR Data: Issues of Data Access and Accessibility in Research

Shanahan

Bezuidenhout

2022

Front. Res. Metr. Anal.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The FAIR data principles are rapidly becoming a standard through which to assess responsible and reproducible research. In contrast to the requirements associated with the Interoperability principle, the requirements associated with the Accessibility principle are often assumed to be relatively straightforward to implement. Indeed, a variety of different tools assessing FAIR rely on the data being deposited in a trustworthy digital repository. In this paper we note that there is an implicit assumption that access to a repository is independent of where the user is geographically located. Using a virtual personal network (VPN) service we find that access to a set of web sites that underpin Open Science is variable from a set of 14 countries; either through connectivity issues (i.e., connections to download HTML being dropped) or through direct blocking (i.e., web servers sending 403 error codes). Many of the countries included in this study are already marginalized from Open Science discussions due to political issues or infrastructural challenges. This study clearly indicates that access to FAIR data resources is influenced by a range of geo-political factors. Given the volatile nature of politics and the slow pace of infrastructural investment, this is likely to continue to be an issue and indeed may grow. We propose that it is essential for discussions and implementations of FAIR to include awareness of these issues of accessibility. Without this awareness, the expansion of FAIR data may unintentionally reinforce current access inequities and research inequalities around the globe.

show abstract

Section: Fair Data: the New Cornerstone Of Responsible Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the A in FAIR Data: Issues of Data Access and Accessibility in Research

Shanahan

Bezuidenhout

2022

Front. Res. Metr. Anal.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For findability, we should consider collaborating on a living survey of computational legal studies, i.e., a continuously updated community resource to help understand and navigate the CLS literature. For great about open access publishing models [26,14,21], and the common practice of having authors pay to publish the research they are paid to produce is far from ideal, it is doubtlessly preferable to paywalled or print-only publications. A simple start is to put final drafts on preprint servers such as arXiv or SSRN, but we should work towards making open access the rule, rather than the exception, also for published papers.…”

Section: Post-publication Criticismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing and Caring: Creating a Culture of Constructive Criticism in Computational Legal Studies

Coupette¹,

Hartung²

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We introduce seven foundational principles for creating a culture of constructive criticism in computational legal studies. Beginning by challenging the current perception of papers as the primary scholarly output, we call for a more comprehensive interpretation of publications. We then suggest to make these publications computationally reproducible, releasing all of the data and all of the code all of the time, on time, and in the most functioning form possible. Subsequently, we invite constructive criticism in all phases of the publication life cycle. We posit that our proposals will help form our field, and float the idea of marking this maturity by the creation of a modern flagship publication outlet for computational legal studies.

show abstract

“…Growing appreciation for the situated and contextual nature of research data (practices) (Ross-Hellauer et al 2022) show, based on an extensive and systematic review of Open Science discourse undertaken with a view towards potential threats to equity, that the initial optimism surrounding Open Science broadly and data sharing specifically (once a few obstacles have been removed) has more recently been replaced, somewhat, by growing appreciation of the situated nature of data sharing and reuse (REFs) and a growing awareness that one-size-fits-all policies risk privileging some disciplines. Indeed, there is increasing evidence to the effect that these (dis)advantages associated with data practices are cumulative as the exploitation of open data is strongly linked to available infrastructure and skills (Ross-Hellauer et al 2022).…”

Section: Overview Of Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data sharing for global, unspecified reuse

Reichmann¹

2022

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This contribution has originally been conceived as the introduction to my dissertation, to be submitted in February 2022 to the University of Graz (Department of Sociology). In the dissertation, I take up the vast discourse on data sharing to argue that until now, the most influential positions (exemplified in the works of philosopher Sabina Leonelli and information scientists Christine L. Borgman) have construed their subject matter rather narrowly, both in terms of the dominant case studies as well as in focusing on the narrowly stated epistemic goals of the Open Science movement (of ensuring reproducibility, transparency, and data reuse, say). I take issue with both of these claims based on a series of empirical case studies, to show that data sharing is broader than has hitherto been assumed, especially in terms of its aims which have, by and large, been modelled along the lines of enabling unspecified, global data reuse. With this preprint, I explain what this means based on an analysis of three discourses, all pertaining to data sharing: Discussions predominantly found within information science documenting a tremendous variability of data types, formats, practices, and sharing behaviour, and an empirical literature that has frequently overlooked the difficulties in accounting for data practices at the level of faculties, research groups, departments, or universities, as well as a more critical discourse that has recently emerged around the factors that inhibit data sharing and reuse, such as the situatedness and contextuality of data practices. The contribution documents a growing awareness of the situated nature of data practices, in particular with respect to research activities in the global south. It further documents mounting evidence for what has been called data contextuality, discussions that ensued from the observation, already a decade old, that “data” are impossible to define, leading to a view now known as the relational view of data (data as potential evidence for knowledge claims).

show abstract

Dynamics of cumulative advantage and threats to equity in open science: a scoping review

Cited by 64 publications

References 252 publications

Rethinking the A in FAIR Data: Issues of Data Access and Accessibility in Research

Rethinking the A in FAIR Data: Issues of Data Access and Accessibility in Research

Sharing and Caring: Creating a Culture of Constructive Criticism in Computational Legal Studies

Data sharing for global, unspecified reuse

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About