On 3 September 2024, an updated version of the Rules for the Processing of Research Data in the Information System of the National Open Access Research Data Archive (MIDAS) (hereinafter the "Rules") came into force. The purpose of these updates is to better align the content published in the MIDAS archive with the FAIR data principles supported by Vilnius University.
The main changes introduced in the new version:
1) The updated Rules set out in more detail the requirements for the information to be provided with the data submitted for publication. Some of the requirements have become more stringent:
- When publishing data or their metadata record, in case the data cannot be made public, authors will be required to provide more metadata than was required before. For example, it will now be mandatory to name the organisation(s) that carried out the research and the organisation(s) that funded it and also to provide references to other data-related research outcomes, such as publications or patents.
- When publishing data and/or their metadata record, authors will be required to specify the conditions for access and reuse of the data: datasets published under open access will have to be assigned one of the open licenses supported by MIDAS, and for datasets published under restricted access, the conditions for access to and re-use of the data will need to be described. To simplify the implementation of this provision, MIDAS publication workflow has been updated. Users wishing to publish an openly accessible dataset will have to select an open license from a drop-down list, and when publishing data under restricted access, the license type "Other" will be automatically assigned to the dataset and its metadata record. In the latter case, the owner(s) of the data will have to explain the conditions for data access and reuse either in the description of the dataset or in the documentation published along with it.
- When publishing data or their metadata record, authors will be required to assign a DOI to the published MIDAS record.
2) The updated Rules specify in what cases and according to what procedures published data can be modified or altogether removed from the MIDAS portal.
You can find the full text of the Rules (in Lithuanian) here, and a simplified version (in English) here.
The renewal of the rules was one of the activities foreseen in the Vilnius University Open Science Policy Guidelines Implementation Plan for 2023–2028.
We wish Vilnius University community a safe and smooth experience using the National Open Access Research Data Archive.
If you have any questions, you can contact Scientific Information and Data Division Research Data Officer Dr. Gintė Medzvieckaitė.
2024-11-05