From Policy Mandates To Editorial Policies: Data Consultation As Infrastructure For Publisher-Ready Fair Practice

Slovenian journals receiving more than 50% public co-funding must publish clear rules for research data storage, access, and citation, in line with European Research Area expectations and the FAIR principles. However, many editorial boards lack the time, specialist skills, or institutional support to translate high-level requirements into day-to-day publishing practice. This presentation argues that data consultation and librarianship can serve as a form of “soft infrastructure” at the nexus of funders, publishers, repositories, and research communities, transforming compliance pressure into sustainable editorial capacity. We present the national approach developed through RDA Node Slovenia, coordinated by the Slovenian Social Science Data Archive (ADP), which connects Research Data Alliance (RDA) recommendations, national legislation, and practical journal operations. The core intervention is a consultation model built around (1) an updated, RDA-aligned Guidelines for Publishers (v3.0) specifying actionable policy areas (definitions of data, trusted repositories, access exceptions, licensing, data citation via persistent identifiers, embargoes, and support pathways); and (2) a 2025 pilot implementation with selected Slovenian publishers, supported by a working group and a “data editor” fellowship scheme. The presentation will outline consultation workflows that data librarians and repository professionals can adopt: translating funder requirements into policy templates, co-writing author instructions, mapping acceptable repositories (including trusted registry pathways), embedding monitoring mechanisms, and registering policy metadata in community registries to enhance discovery and accountability. We also consider the professional competencies needed to mediate between editorial culture, legal and ethical constraints, and repository standards – framing consultation not as ad hoc support, but as a repeatable service with measurable outputs. Expected outcomes include harmonised national practices, stronger repository–journal connections, greater transparency and trust in published findings, and scalable training pathways for editors and reviewers , providing a practical blueprint for data professionals “championing data” through publisher-facing consultation.