By IQ Editors | December 19, 2025
Dear IASSISTers,
Welcome to IASSIST Quarterly Vol. 49 No. 4 .
IQ’s Editors and Editorial Board are continuously working on developingpolicies toprovide a clear, consistent, and equitable experience for authors, reviewers, and readers. Authors who are considering submitting a manuscript are encouraged to download and read over the author template if they haven’t published with us recently. One recent update is a request that as part of the review process, authors include a separate letter, apart from their manuscript, explaining how the reviewers’ commentswere addressed. This letter offers authors an opportunity to clarify why certain comments were not fully implemented or were addressed differently than recommended.
As many of you may know, the Qualitative Social Science & Humanities Data Interest Group (QSSHDIG)has been working on a special issue highlighting the challenges of data sharing in the context of qualitative research. We are looking forward to publishing this issue in the spring of 2026. Since this will be a double issue, the release date may vary from our regular publishing schedule; however, we’ll announce itdebut on the list as usual.
The current issue, IQ 49(4), brings together diverse perspectives on the evolving landscape of research data management, access, and data literacy within academic and research contexts. The four featured articles explore critical challenges and opportunities in supporting data-driven scholarship. Collectively, these contributions underscore the importance of cross-campus collaboration and shared understanding to advance data stewardship and literacy.
Opening the issue is the winning submission of the 2025 IASSIST Conference Paper Competition, titled Assessing data management and sharing plans: The “state of play” at Duke and opportunities for cross-campus collaborations. Authors Sophia Lafferty-Hess, William Krenzer, Jenny Ariansen and Jennifer Darragh, present key findings from a data management and sharing plans (DMSP) assessment project jointly undertaken by two research support groups at their institution. They further discuss how data management specialists can use this cross-campus collaboration model for ongoing education, training, and resource development.
In their article In the data steward’s shoes: An autoethnographic exploration of everyday challenges, authors Auriane Marmier, Stefan Stepanovic, and Tobias Mettler use an autoethnographic approach to provide a practice-based perspective on the role of Data Stewards in academic institutions and the challenges they face. The authors seek to initiate a discussion about the current positioning of Data Stewards within academic institutions in order to understand how data stewardship can better support both regulatory compliance and research innovation.
Graeme Campbell, Katie Cuyler and Alex Guindon offer us an overview of the current landscape of the Canadian census portals. In their article Assessing the landscape for discovery and access to historical Canadian census data, the authors argue that fragmented and inconsistent access to Canadian census data serve as a barrier to research and emphasize the need for a single comprehensive access point for Canadian census data
The paper Conception of data literacy in statistics education literature presents results from ascoping review of data literacy articles within the field of statistics education. The concept of data literacy is interpreted quite differently by librarians and statisticians. Authors Julia Bauder and Libby Cave review the landscape of data literacy education in statistics, offering librarians and other information professionals a map for coordinating their data literacy work with disciplinary faculty, and contributing to data literacy education.
Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year!
Ofira Schwartz and Michele Hayslett, December 2025
Submissions of papers for the IASSIST Quarterly are always very welcome. Authors may take a look at the instructions and layout . We are available via e-mail for questions, or proposals for special issues: editor.iassistquarterly ( at ) gmail.com.