A declaration drawing attention to the positive impact of research data sharing was adopted at an unprecedented international summit of the topmost scientific universities held at Sorbonne University in Paris on 27 January.
The declaration was signed by nine networks representing leading research universities from different regions of the world. The declaration states the common position these higher education institutions have with regard to research data. According to the document, ‘providing access to and openly sharing data enables the development of new knowledge, and accelerates discoveries for the benefit of society and economic development’. In addition to accessibility, the text stresses the importance of the quality of research data, since ‘the value of research data lies on its integrity upon which the public trust in new knowledge is founded’. The signatories commit to ‘encouraging their universities and researchers to share data as much as possible’ and to advocating for research data compliance with the FAIR data principles (findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability). Among strategies for enhancing the data sharing culture within organisations, the signatories point to means such as ‘development of appropriate recognition for researchers who make their data FAIR and share it with appropriate open data licenses’ and ‘setting up training and skills development programs that create an environment to promote open research data management’. Researchers are encouraged to be active and contribute to positive change. National governments are urged to support the initiative by providing the necessary resources and by creating legal frameworks preventing data “lock-in” by commercial platforms and data services. Furthermore, the declaration calls on funding agencies making research data management costs fully eligible for funding.
The necessity of opening research data is addressed already in the European Parliament and Council Directive (EU) 2019/1024 which recommends to the member states that they ‘support the availability of research data by adopting national policies and relevant actions aiming at making publicly funded research data openly available, following the principle of “open by default” and compatible with the FAIR principles’ (Article 10). Both the aforementioned EU directive and the Sorbonne declaration prove that research data are gaining acknowledgement as a component of the research ecosystem in its own right and that open access to research data is as important as open access to scholarly publications.
The full text of the declaration can be found on the League of European Research Universities (LERU) website along with a report from the Sorbonne summit.
The signatories of the Sorbonne declaration:
Association of American Universities (AAU)
African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA)
Coordination of French Research-Intensive Universities (CURIF)
German U15 representing 15 leading German research universities
League of European Research Universities (LERU)
RU11, a consortium representing 11 top research universities in Japan
Russell Group representing 24 leading research universities in the UK
The Group of Eight (Go8), a coalition of the most important Australian research universities
U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities
Gintė Medzvieckaitė