Fostering Data Reusability: Increasing Impact and Ease in Sharing and Reusing Research Data - Workshop Report and Action Steps

This workshop report tackles one of the most significant barriers to progress in making research data publicly accessible: the hurdles faced by researchers in producing and reusing publicly accessible research data, both in their research practice and in the surrounding ecosystem shaped by external stakeholders. The central challenge in high quality data sharing is to understand how researchers can increase the downstream value of shared data while reducing burden for both data producers and reusers. The report summarizes recommendations and actions from an NSF-sponsored virtual workshop series on Fostering Data Reusability: Increasing Impact and Ease in Data Sharing and Reuse held in June 2021. The series explored what context data reusers need to evaluate and appropriately reuse the data, identified practices that will improve data reusability and reduce the burden in producing and sharing research data, and used a stakeholder alignment approach to identify actions stakeholders could take to foster progress in reducing burden and increasing impact in data sharing and reuse.