Povzetek:

There is a growing awareness about data sharing among international organisations, national science organisations, research funding bodies, data services, universities and researchers, on the one hand but also the growing needs for proper tools, mechanisms and instruments aimed at providing trustworthy long-term preservation of research data. Data sharing enables the reuse of data by researchers who did not generate these data themselves, thus leading to greater efficiencies and more research. Data sharing also stimulates the usage of data beyond research in academia. Ultimately, data sharing leads to a higher return on investment. Data sharing furthermore makes science more transparent and facilitates replication of research by others. Crucial perquisites for any existing or aspiring data service are a set of clearly defined, written down, core policies in order to achieve trust among those stakeholders. Through their core activities – data preservation and dissemination – data services make long-term access to and wider use of existing data possible in the first place. This means that publicly funded data are used more effectively, beyond their original purposes (secondary use). It goes without saying, that data services, as a key stakeholder, have to develop a transparent set of policy and procedures that support internal data management procedures across the whole data life-cycle and ensure accountability and allow for external quality control. Accountability and transparency are key factors for creating trust by funders and researchers. Three main models and guidelines that serve as a foundation for this policy and procedures document are outlined in chapter 2. The following chapters focus on the policies of the future data service. They are represented in a three-layered policy structure: The high-level organisational infrastructure, chapter 3; the descriptions of digital object management procedures as a data lifecycle approach, chapter 4; and the segments on technical infrastructure, security and risk management, chapter 5. The policies are for the time being described in one document. As the future data service starts to take shape, and services start being more distributed, the different policies can be developed further into separate different documents (strategies and programs).