Empowering Data Librarian Authors: Creating Transparent Data Sharing Policies and Avenues for Publishing Open Access Data
Library and information science professionals are uniquely positioned to lead by example in research data sharing practices. The Journal of eScience Librarianship (JeSLIB), has become an anchor for data librarians to publish their scholarship and continually adapts to the increasingly data-driven world.
In the Fall of 2023, Curtis Brundy reached out to see if JeSLIB would publish an article about a dataset he collected. At that time, we did not publish data articles, but the Editors decided to pursue this opportunity to support scholarship and accessibility of data within the librarian community. For this new article type, JeSLIB added a Data Editor, and by March 2024 JeSLIB had the article format, template, and author instructions in place to accept our first data article.
We're excited to share how JeSLIB has enhanced its support for data sharing and data scholarship through a new initiative with three key pieces: creating a Data Editor position, launching a new "Data in Action" article type, and developing a user-friendly template to make data publication accessible.
Our new Data Editor, Allie Tatarian, analyzes and reviews data articles, and verifies all JeSLIB articles meet our data sharing policy. They work directly with our authors to ensure the data linked to their publications meets the FAIR Principles (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) for data sharing.
Our new "Data in Action" article type, paired with a user-friendly template, creates an easier path for librarians to publish high-impact datasets they've created.
This panel presentation will feature a discussion between the author and journal editors as they reflect on collaborating on creating accessible venues and clear processes for sharing data work. We'll share our early experiences and insights that could be helpful whether you're thinking about publishing your own data-focused work or developing similar services at your institution.