The reuse of research data involves the use of previously collected data (or materials or sources) that have been archived in an archive, repository, or research data center. This means that research data, along with their metadataMetadata are descriptions of research data (data about data) and provide content-related and structured information about the research context, methodological and analytical procedures, as well as the research team that generated the data. They can be categorized into bibliographic, administrative, procedural, and descriptive metadata and are typically created using templates, ReadMe files, or data curation profiles. Metadata are published alongside the research data themselves and are essential in online repositories and research data centers, where they enable third parties to understand and contextualize datasets. Metadata also enhances the findability and machine-readability of data, making them a key component of the FAIR Principles and good scientific practice. Read More and contextual materials (see article on Data Documentation and Metadata), can be found online and, depending on the data type and access rightsIn archives or repositories, access rights regulate who has access to data and to what extent, particularly for reuse. Typically, access is categorized as follows: Read More, can be read, downloaded, printed, linked, stored, analyzed, and used for new research projects with different questions. This aligns with the FAIR principlesThe FAIR Principles were first developed in 2016 by the FORCE11 community (The Future of Research Communication and e-Scholarship). FORCE11 is a community of researchers, librarians, archivists, publishers, and research funders aiming to bring about change in modern scientific communication through the effective use of information technology, thereby supporting enhanced knowledge creation and dissemination. The primary goal is the transparent and open presentation of scientific processes. Accordingly, data should be made findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) online. The objective is to preserve data long-term and make it available for reuse by third parties in line with Open Science and Data Sharing principles. Precise definitions by FORCE11 can be found on their website see: https://force11.org/info/the-fair-data-principles/. Read More and the Open Science'Open Science encompasses strategies and practices aimed at making all components of the scientific process openly accessible and reusable on the internet. This approach is intended to open up new possibilities for science, society, and industry in handling scientific knowledge” (AG Open Science, 2014, translation by Saskia Köbschall). Read More movement (RatSWD, 2023, p. 33; DGfE, 2020, p. 4).

Evidence in Data Affairs

Data reuse