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Page 75
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 9 - Building Blocks of the Solution." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25704.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 9 - Building Blocks of the Solution." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25704.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 9 - Building Blocks of the Solution." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25704.
×
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Page 78
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 9 - Building Blocks of the Solution." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25704.
×
Page 78
Page 79
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 9 - Building Blocks of the Solution." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25704.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 9 - Building Blocks of the Solution." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25704.
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Page 80

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CHAPTER 9. Building Blocks of the Solution The Big Picture — U.S. DOT and State DOTs Previous chapters of the Guide have identified and explained essential requirements for state DOTs and other research institutions and options that research institutions have for going beyond the minimum in the future. This chapter pulls together those requirements and choices from a “big picture” systems perspective. The goal of this chapter is to provide a simple visual representation of three essential systems and services components (see Figure 8, “The Big Picture.” on page 76). Figure 8 identifies three sets of systems and services, including • Those provided by the U.S. DOT to state DOTs and other research institutions to satisfy essential requirements today, • Those related to data repository and management solutions to satisfy both essential requirements and long-term goals, and • Those related to local institutional registries and repositories for written research products to satisfy long-term goals. U.S. DOT Systems and Services Today The U.S. DOT provides a registry to support discovery, availability, and access to support long- term storage and preservation of written research publications (ROSA P). The TRB provides a registry and repository for discovery, availability, and access to support long-term storage and preservation of written final project and technical reports. 9. B U ILD IN G B LO C K S O F T H E S O LU T IO N In This Section » The Big Picture — U.S. DOT and State DOTs » U.S. DOT Systems and Services Today » Data Repository and Management Solutions » Selecting the Best Solution » Non-U.S. DOT Registries and Repositories for Written Research Products » Chapter Checklist 75

76 9. building blocks of the solution At the time this Guide was written, the U.S. DOT did not demand a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all solution for discovery, availability, access, storage, or preservation of research data. Instead, the Public Access Plan provides flexibility to meet local needs. The research organization must make its choice for both the short and the long term. Figure 8. The Big Picture U.S. DOT Solutions & Structures for text-based research ROSA P TRID/RiP Research Hub NTL Staff TRB Staff Data Management Solutions & Structures Contract-, Membership-, or Subscription-Based Commercial Data Repositories Public Data Repositories Institutional Data Repositories General Purpose Domain- Based A B OR Institutional Content (Text-Based) Registries & Repositories Registries Library Catalog Repositories Network Drives Content Management Research Repositories Metadata Repository C A range of options may be available. There is no single solution. Researcher deposits deposits must choose Research Organization ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: + a choice from A B GOING BEYOND Minimum Compliance: + a choice from + a possibility of A B C

77 9. building blocks of the solution Data Repository and Management Solutions Selecting a place to store and manage data for public access is the most complex aspect of meeting essential requirements. There are four essential choices: • Researcher stores on local drive or on one-off storage devices, • Institutional solution — local repositories, • Open solutions — including the list provided by the U.S. DOT, and • Domain-specific solutions based on the research community. Selecting the Best Solution In today’s research climate, it is most often the researcher who decides where and how to store data. Academic organizations tend to have some storage and preservation guidelines, but, unfortunately, these have requirements of limited access. This means there needs to be a shift from researcher-based to organization-based decisions on where and how to store federally funded research. The question to ask moving forward is, who makes the choice on where and how data are stored? Perhaps the most significant question is this: Should the state DOT (or other transportation research institution) use an existing repository or work with a repository to create its own collection? If the state DOT is selecting among existing repositories, a good starting point for evaluation of the choices is to ensure that the preservation process meets the FAIR guiding principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.1 Repository assessments should reflect these principles and can be used by a state DOT or research institution to select one or more repositories for use. For more information on assessing repositories, see Chapter 12, “Assessing and Managing Progress.” If a state DOT elects to create its own collection, the process is more involved at the beginning but could be more efficient in the long term. One way to do this is to contract with an experienced repository to use existing tools and expertise while providing a dedicated site for the data and other research products. If researchers or the state DOT choose to use a repository that is run outside of their organization, it will be very important to closely review the repository’s terms of service and ascertain whether the repository is in compliance with the U.S. DOT Public Access Plan. Any questions that arise from this review should be discussed with repository personnel. Needs to be a shift from research-based to institutional- based decisions. ? ? ?

78 9. building blocks of the solution Non–U.S. DOT Registries and Repositories for Written Research Products State DOTs and other research institutions are not required to have a local solution for written research products management to meet essential requirements. However, proceeding without a local or U.S. DOT solution in place means that the organization doing the research is relegated to an indirect rather than direct role in achieving the Open Science vision. When an organization chooses to establish or use a local solution, it then has the ability to internally track and manage its research assets and, thus, to have a direct role in accomplishing the Open Science vision. Regardless, use of a registry or repository is essential to achieving discovery and use and to sharing within and without the research organization. Such systems enable interdisciplinary collaboration across research communities and subject areas. How should a state DOT approach the decision to support local management of research products? How do these systems and services translate to the local environment? The first step is to determine what you have to work with. Below are some key questions that might help determine what your organization has in place now. þ Is there a content or document management system? þ Is there a records management or archiving system or function? þ Is there an institutional or a local search system? þ Is there a library (contract or in-house) designated to support your research organization (e.g., state transportation library)? þ Is there a research services and support function? Content, document, and records management systems, as well as archiving systems, can serve as a starting point for capturing, organizing, searching, using, and preserving written research products. Each of these systems serves a different function, but those functions can be adapted to support a general strategy across the organization. Having a large-scale data management system (e.g., business enterprise system) might also be a starting point, but it must be supported by a policy and process for storing and preserving content. Similarly, library catalogs and bibliographic systems may support discovery, but, unless there is an underlying repository or storage solution, they will not solve the access and use challenge. Checklist: Determining what an organization has in place? ? ?

79 9. building blocks of the solution Chapter Checklist From this chapter, you should be able to þ Describe the U.S. DOT and TRB systems and services that support essential requirements. þ Understand local practices for managing written research products and research data assets. þ Describe research institutions’ choices for research data repositories and registries to meet essential requirements. þ Describe research institutions’ choices for long-term research data discovery, availability, access, and preservation. þ Identify and describe existing local systems and services for managing written research products. þ Describe long-term local options for management of written research products. þ Use the Guide to find more detailed discussions of these issues. Endnotes 1 M. D., Wilkinson, M. Dumontier, I. J. Aalbersberg, G. Appleton, M. Axton, A. Baak, N. Blomberg, et al. “The FAIR Guiding Principles for Scientific Data Management and Stewardship,” Scientific Data 3(1):160018. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1038/sdata.2016.18.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation has essential requirements for researchers and research institutions requesting and receiving transportation-related federal research funds. The U.S. DOT strives to make it easier to publish and communicate scientific knowledge. It is a long-range vision which goes beyond the requirements of the U.S. DOT’s Public Access Plan.

The TRB National Cooperative Highway Research Program's NCHRP Research Report 936: Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research is designed to help state DOTs, as well as other organizations that do transportation research, better understand and consider how they will comply with the U.S. DOT policy.

The guide is accompanied by NCHRP Web-Only Document 270: Developing a Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research.

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