Opening Research Data: What Does It Mean for Social Sciences?

Héloïse Berkowitz () and Hélène Delacour ()
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Héloïse Berkowitz: LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Hélène Delacour: CEREFIGE - Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises - UL - Université de Lorraine

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Abstract: Recent international trends demonstrate multilevel efforts to ‘open' science across its whole ecosystem and lifecycle – from capturing research data through to publishing results. In social sciences, the publication process is already largely ‘open access' or transitioning toward it. However, opening research data raises specific issues and concerns for the field. Here, we set out to understand what open research data mean for social sciences, and if, why, and how data should be made open. We argue that while the ecosystem of actors, infrastructures, standards, and principles is starting to take structure in France and abroad, there are several barriers to the process of opening data in social sciences: (1) a misperception of the motivations for opening data (i.e., focusing on risks of exercising control over researchers and their academic freedom and overlooking motivations like data patrimonialization, pooling and potential synergies, trust-building, and broader engagement), (2) a system based on competition and the dominant process of ‘starification' in research, (3) a lack of resources and capabilities that might further exacerbate inequalities among genders, communities, institutions, and countries, and (4) the potential risks inherent to opening data and the specific constraints posed by social science data. Against this backdrop, we investigate several ways forward to operationalize not only FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable) but also CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics) principles for open data in social sciences, before going on to present M@n@gement's new open data policy.

Keywords: Open research data; Open science; FAIR principles; CARE principles; Social sciences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-12-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme and nep-hpe
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Published in M@n@gement, 2022, 25 (4), pp.1-15. ⟨10.37725/mgmt.v25.9123⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03929898

DOI: 10.37725/mgmt.v25.9123

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