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The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of work performed at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to set-up a Research Data Management Service and tailor it to the needs of health researchers.

The paper describes the motivations for establishing the RDM Service and outlines the three objectives that were set to improve data management practice within the institution. Each of the objectives are explored in turn, stating how they were addressed.

A university with limited resources can operate a RDM Service that pro-actively supports researchers wishing to manage research data by monitoring evolving support needs, identifying common trends and developing resources that will reduce the time investment needed. The institution-wide survey identified a need for guidance on developing data documentation and archiving research data following project completion. Analysis of ongoing support requests identifies a need for guidance on data management plans and complying with journal sharing requirements.

The paper provides a case study of a single institution. The results may not be generally applicable to universities that support other disciplines.

The case study may be helpful in helping other universities to establish an RDM Service using limited resources.

The paper outlines how the evolving data management needs of public health researchers can be identified and a strategy that can be adopted by an RDM Service to efficiently address these requirements.

This study aims to provide a systematic and complete knowledge map for use by researchers working in the field of research data. Additionally, the aim is to help them quickly understand the authors' collaboration characteristics, institutional collaboration characteristics, trending research topics, evolutionary trends and research frontiers of scholars from the perspective of library informatics.

The authors adopt the bibliometric method, and with the help of bibliometric analysis software CiteSpace and VOSviewer, quantitatively analyze the retrieved literature data. The analysis results are presented in the form of tables and visualization maps in this paper.

The research results from this study show that collaboration between scholars and institutions is weak. It also identified the current hotspots in the field of research data, these being: data literacy education, research data sharing, data integration management and joint library cataloguing and data research support services, among others. The important dimensions to consider for future research are the library's participation in a trans-organizational and trans-stage integration of research data, functional improvement of a research data sharing platform, practice of data literacy education methods and models, and improvement of research data service quality.

Previous literature reviews on research data are qualitative studies, while few are quantitative studies. Therefore, this paper uses quantitative research methods, such as bibliometrics, data mining and knowledge map, to reveal the research progress and trend systematically and intuitively on the research data topic based on published literature, and to provide a reference for the further study of this topic in the future.

This study aims to provide a picture of the current state of art in the use of big data for decision-making processes for the management of health-care organizations.

A systematic literature review was carried out. The research uses two analyses: descriptive analysis, describing the evolution of citations; keywords; and the ten most influential papers, and bibliometric analysis, for content evaluation, for which a cluster analysis was performed.

A total of 48 articles were selected for bibliographic coupling out of an initial sample of more than 5,000 papers. Of the 48 articles, 29 are linked on the basis of their bibliography. Clustering the 29 articles on the basis of actual content, four research areas emerged: quality of care, quality of service, crisis management and data management.

Health-care organizations believe strongly that big data can become the most effective tool for correctly influencing the decision-making processes. Thus, more and more organizations continue to invest in big data analytics, and the literature on this topic has expanded rapidly. This study seeks to provide a comprehensive picture of the different streams of literature existing, together with gaps in research and future perspectives. The literature is mature enough for an analysis to be made and provide managers with useful insights on opportunities, criticisms and perspectives on the use of big data for health-care organizations. However, to date, there is no comprehensive literature review on the big data analysis in health care. Furthermore, as big data is a “sexy catchphrase,” more clarity on its usage may be needed. It represents an important tool to be investigated and its great potential is often yet to be discovered. This study thus sheds light on emerging issues and suggests further research that may be needed.

The proliferation of (big) data provides numerous opportunities for service advances in practice, yet research on using data to advance service is at a nascent stage in the literature. Many studies have discussed phenomenological benefits of data to service. However, limited research describes managerial issues behind such benefits, although a holistic understanding of the issues is essential in using data to advance service in practice and provides a basis for future research. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap.

“Using data to advance service” is about change in organizations. Thus, this study uses action research methods of creating real change in organizations together with practitioners, thereby adding to scientific knowledge about practice. The authors participated in five service design projects with industry and government that used different data sets to design new services.

Drawing on lessons learned from the five projects, this study empirically identifies 11 managerial issues that should be considered in data-use for advancing service. In addition, by integrating the issues and relevant literature, this study offers theoretical implications for future research.

“Using data to advance service” is a research topic that emerged originally from practice. Action research or case studies on this topic are valuable in understanding practice and in identifying research priorities by discovering the gap between theory and practice. This study used action research over many years to observe real-world challenges and to make academic research relevant to the challenges. The authors believe that the empirical findings will help improve service practices of data-use and stimulate future research.

The study investigated teaching research data management (RDM) courses in higher learning institutions (HLIs) in Tanzania to enable postgraduate students to work with their research data.

The study triangulated research methods. Postgraduate students were investigated using survey questionnaires to learn about their needs and perceptions of the teaching RDM courses in HLIs. Key informants (academicians, information and communication technologists and library staff) were also investigated using in-depth interviews to explore their experiences and knowledge of teaching RDM courses. SPSS statistical software was used for analysing quantitative data; qualitative data were analysed thematically.

A total of 70 questionnaires were distributed to postgraduate students with a returning rate of 44 (69%). On the other hand, 12 key informants were interviewed. A low level of RDM literacy was revealed among 38 (86%) respondents. Most respondents 40 (91%) reported the need for HLIs to start teaching RDM courses. A lack of skills and knowledge in teaching RDM courses was revealed among key informants. The competency-based, adaptive and constructive teaching techniques were selected for teaching RDM courses, whereas intensive training and online tutorials were revealed as teaching formats.

This study focused on teaching RDM courses in HLIs. The survey questionnaires were distributed to all 2nd year postgraduate students, however, the findings cannot be generalised to all postgraduate students due to the response rate obtained. The findings obtained from key informants can also not be used as a basis for generalization across HLIs.

This study concluded that postgraduate students need to be well equipped with skills and knowledge on RDM and its related concepts; teaching RDM courses should be regarded as a continuous programme for benefit of students, researchers and the community at large.

Appropriate teaching of RDM courses among students not only ensures that students meet the funders’ and publishers’ requirements, but also encourages students to store and share their research among researchers worldwide; thus increasing collaboration and visibility of the datasets and data owners through data citations and acknowledgements.

This is a comprehensive study that provides findings for HLIs to teach RDM courses in HLIs, especially for postgraduate students. The findings revealed the need for teaching RDM courses in HLIs. The study provides the basis for further RDM research in HLIs and research institutions.

This paper aims to assess whether the current eResearch Knowledge Centre’s (eRKC) research support practices align with researchers’ requirements for achieving their research objectives. The study’s objectives were to assess the current eRKC research support services and to determine which are adequate and which are not in supporting the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) researchers.

This study uses interviews as part of the qualitative approach. The researcher chose to use interviews, as some aspects warranted further explanation during the interview. The interviews were scheduled using Zoom’s scheduling assistant. The interviews were semi-structured, guided by a flexible interview procedure and supplemented by follow-up questions, probes and comments. The research life cycle questions guided the interviews. The data obtained were coded and transcribed using MS Excel. The interview data were analysed, using NVivo, according to the themes identified in the research questions and aligned with the theory behind the study. Pre-determined codes were created in line with the six stages of the research life cycle and applied to group the data and extract meaning from each category. Interviewee responses were assigned to groups in line with the stages of the research life cycle.

The current eRKC research support services are aligned with the needs of HSRC researchers and highlight services that could be expanded or promoted more effectively to HSRC researchers. It proposes a new service, data analysis, and suggests that the eRKC could play a more prominent role in research impact, research data management and fostering collaboration with HSRC research divisions.

This study is limited to assessing the eRKC’s support practices at the HSRC in Pretoria, South Africa. A more comprehensive study is needed for HSRC research services, capabilities and capacity.

Assessment of eRKC followed a comprehensive interviewee schedule that followed Raju and Schoombee’s research life cycle model.

Zoom’s scheduling assistant may have generated Zoom fatigue and reduced productivity. Technical issues, losing time, communication gaps and distant time zones may have affected face-to-face interaction.

eRKC research support practices are rare in South Africa and most parts of the world. This study bridges the gap between theory and practice in assessing eRKC research support practices.

Research data management (RDM) has been called a “ground-breaking” area for research libraries and it is among the top future trends for academic libraries. Hence, this study aims to systematically review RDM practices and services primarily focusing on the challenges, services and skills along with motivational factors associated with it.

A systematic literature review method was used focusing on literature produced between 2016–2020 to understand the latest trends. An extensive research strategy was framed and 15,206 results appeared. Finally, 19 studies have fulfilled the criteria to be included in the study following preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

RDM is gradually gaining importance among researchers and academic libraries; however, it is still poorly practiced by researchers and academic libraries. Albeit, it is better observed in developed countries over developing countries, however, there are lots of challenges associated with RDM practices by researchers and services by libraries. These challenges demand certain sets of skills to be developed for better practices and services. An active collaboration is required among stakeholders and university services departments to figure out the challenges and issues.

The implications of policy and practical point-of-view present how research data can be better managed in the future by researchers and library professionals. The expected/desired role of key stockholders in this regard is also highlighted.

RDM is an important and emerging area. Researchers and Library and Information Science professionals are not comprehensively managing research data as it involves complex cooperation among various stakeholders. A combination of measures is required to better manage research data that would ultimately move forward for open access publishing.

This study aims to examine the state of embedded librarianship in African academic libraries by exploring the extent of librarian embedment in research processes in selected academic libraries in Africa.

A survey was conducted to collect data using an online questionnaire. The study population was comprised of librarians who directly support researchers throughout the research process in the scholarly communication and information services sections. Purposive sampling was used to select librarians, and 63 responses were received from the target of 100. The collected data were analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software, and content analysis was used to analyse open-ended questions.

The study results showed that the extent and nature of librarians' embeddedness in the research process vary across different university contexts in Africa. Challenges and areas of research skill gaps among librarians were identified, and propositions to address the research skill gaps were provided.

The study findings can be used as a framework for libraries to embed librarians in the research process. The study made recommendations with practical implications for library practitioners in academia, and institutions offering library and information science education, and the library management responsible for the research process.

A study brings a novel perspective by examining the state of embedded librarianship in the African context. Its contribution generates knowledge and insights that inform the development of effective embedded librarianship practices in African academic libraries to enhance research support services and advancement of scholarly research in the region.

This article describes the interviews the authors conducted in late 2021 with 19 researchers at the Department of Classical Philology and Italian Studies at the University of Bologna. The main purpose was to shed light on the definition of the word “data” in the humanities domain, as far as FAIR data management practices are concerned, and on what researchers think of the term.

The authors invited one researcher for each of the official disciplinary areas represented within the department and all 19 accepted to participate in the study. Participants were then divided into five main research areas: philology and literary criticism, language and linguistics, history of art, computer science and archival studies. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using a grounded theory approach.

A list of 13 research data types has been compiled thanks to the information collected from participants. The term “data” does not emerge as especially problematic, although a good deal of confusion remains. Looking at current research management practices, methodologies and teamwork appear more central than previously reported.

Our findings confirm that “data” within the FAIR framework should include all types of inputs and outputs humanities research work with, including publications. Also, the participants of this study appear ready for a discussion around making their research data FAIR: they do not find the terminology particularly problematic, while they rely on precise and recognised methodologies, as well as on sharing and collaboration with colleagues.