How generic is discipline-specific research data management?

An investigation using the example of the MOSAiC expedition

Abstract

Objective – This article focuses on discipline-specific research data management (RDM) using the example of the international MOSAiC expedition. The aim is to show the differences between the discipline-specific research data management of MOSAiC and the generic research data management from the perspective of information scientists. Furthermore, it should be discussed how this knowledge can help libraries to support their researchers in geosciences in dealing with their research data.

Methods – The investigation follows an inductive approach and has been built on a content analysis of documents about generic and discipline-specific RDM, dynamic information websites and project-specific Wikis. The understanding of the MOSAiC expedition that took place in 2019-2020 and its data management structure was consolidated through an expert interview with data managers from the Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI). This article is structured as follows: In the beginning research data management gets explained from an information science perspective, then the data culture in the natural sciences is listed and the data structure of the MOSAiC expedition is explicitly presented in order to answer the research question on the basis of the expedition example.

Results – Communication is both a challenge and an opportunity in the process of setting up a discipline-specific research data management and their explicit support services for researchers.  The three perspectives on RDM: (a) institution, (b) researcher and (c) developments and models in information science, should be considered.

Conclusions – Even in individual disciplines RDM is fundamentally generic and should be expanded taking into account the discipline-specific characteristics to secure data quality and FAIR data reuse.