Reporting on data-sharing
Good reporting meets the requirement that researchers be accountable for how they use public funds but also enables their institutions and funders to celebrate the success of studies and those who make secondary use of the data.
The reporting framework aims to achieve informative, brief reporting and comparability through highlights of achievements and a few key metrics.
Requirements
R20. Directors / PIs must be able to report to MRC as a funder on the performance and outputs of sharing achieved during a given period of funding.
Expectations
1. The study produces a short report for its funders periodically (e.g. as part of new funding requests or quinquennial review), which includes the following information, as appropriate to the study, its stage in the study lifecycle, and the nature and scale of its data-sharing:
- A brief summary of the kind of scientific opportunities that the new uses are enabling. An indication of the kind of relationships and partnerships involved.
- Process metrics: Number of informal requests in the reporting period; the number of formal requests; the number (%) of formal requests that were accepted; the number (%) of accepted requests that were formally referred back to the requester for revision or substantive additional information; the number (%) that were declined; and the number (%) that appealed.
- Resourcing metrics for the funder: The cost to the study of (a) the access governance process, and (b) facilitative selection, preparation and analysis of data for the requester. The costs contributed to (b) by the requesters.
- Output/outcome metrics: Standard research publication and other output information, indicating which were led by the study team and which by external users.
- Studies may provide other indicators to illustrate the value they are creating through sharing.
- Any data breaches resulting from data sharing
2. For studies with for example eight or more unrelated requests a year, a report is regularly produced for the oversight committee (annually) along the lines above.
3. Summary highlights and metrics are also made available to participants and the wider research community, and ideally are accessible through the study website.