Research Data Management Policy & Organizational Compliance: An Exploratory Study in the Academic Context

Research data management (RDM) describes a broad array of processes and activities aimed at ensuring that data are documented, organized, findable, and preserved for future access. In January 2023, the National Institutes of Health will begin enforcing the strictest data management requirements of a U.S. federal agency to date, including potential consequences for organizations whose researchers fail to demonstrate compliance with commitments to data management and sharing. This dissertation makes two major assessment-based contributions in support of organizational preparedness for policy compliance. First, it reports the results of a pilot study at a high research institution for a survey instrument, which has been designed to extend current known RDM assessment practices. More specifically, the survey addresses new factors such as the sensitivity of the data, items that expose knowledge gaps about specific actionable tasks that comprise RDM, and items that reveal organizational communication challenges in terms of researcher uncertainty about institutional support. Additionally, a second pilot study is conducted that demonstrates the assessment for data availability messages tool (ADAM). ADAM has been developed as an analytical workflow and measurement system for extracting messages from publications about what researchers communicate in regards to data sharing. Finally, an open-source library of all data visualization and processing scripts needed to interpret the results has been provided. For a test institution, results from the two pilot studies identify current trends and knowledge gaps in RDM, which should be addressed to ensure the organization's ability to comply with relevant data policies.