Application And Construction Of Framework Of Research Data Management Policy

Academic libraries are key enablers in many countries for providing access to strategic research information that helps various institutions in those countries to adequately plan,formulate policies and implement them for national development.For academic libraries in a country to be globally competitive,there must be an efficient way of collecting,storing,using,accessing and disseminating information.In this regard,academic library polices across the worlds,have prescribed holistic research data management(RDM)including the creation of digital scholarship centers,collaborative partnership approach to research and development projects and so on.The rise of big data and cloud computing technologies,have had a major impact on the modus operandi of research data management,emphasizing more on data inventory preservation,standardized data organization,seamless data sharing,among others.Such a paradigm shift could have retrogressive effects on the competitiveness of academic libraries especially those in developing countries,where the response and adaption to technology trends is slow.Besides,other factors such as stressed equipment and myopic institutional support could pose serious challenges to RDM.In Ghana and many other developing countries,the lack of adequate resources,infrastructure and limited data management skills among library staff are additional barriers to the advancement of RDM.Meanwhile,academic libraries in developed countries such as USA,UK and Australia,having adequate funding,are responding to recent advances in RDM.In these countries,strategies and support services for RDM have spurred development.The main goal of this research is to analyze the application of research data management policies in three countries-USA,UK,and Australia-and then construct a framework for academic libraries in Ghana and developing countries in general for socio-economic development.This will be achieved by meeting the following objectives: compare and contrast the similarities and differences in research data management policies across universities in the selected countries;assess the current research data management policies and practices of academic libraries in Ghana;unravel the key research data management challenges of academic libraries in Ghana;analyze the impact of research data management on the socio-economic development of Ghana and provide strategic recommendation for research data management practices in academic libraries for Ghana's socio-economic development and that of developing countries at large.To this end,research questions were constructed to examine the various RDM policies in developed countries such as USA,UK and Australia universities and recommending suitable strategies for academic libraries in Ghana.A comparison of the RDM policies in USA,UK and Australia universities is conducted to find out the similarities and differences between the various RDM policies.The research revealed that the common underlying facts of the policies of these developed countries namely USA,UK and Australia are in the areas of access,retention,sharing,storage and ownership while the differences,are in the areas of authorship,peer review,intellectual property,archiving and data management plan.However,all the universities share the same core values in the management of their research data.Since the difference in the RDM policies are largely due to focus,a data lifecycle model is designed as a guide to policy formulation and for informing the policy directions for institutions to streamline the processes.Moreover,this present study identifies challenges to RDM in Ghana by analyzing and assessing RDM policies and practices in academic libraries.This study employed both the inductive and deductive research approaches in its investigation.The study conducts text analysis of results using content analysis with SPSS version 24.Using ethically professional research methods,this study adopted the purposive sampling techniques to select its sample size,scoop both quantitative and qualitative data from survey based secondary data sources and aims to adopt and modify existing RDM theories and models such as DCC lifecycle model reviewed in literature to unravel and explain its findings.The Ghana Library Board(GLB),the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana(CARLIGH),and the Ghana Library Association(GLA)are identified as key policy formulation agencies in Ghana's academic library industry with a goal of negotiating licensing agreements and playing leadership roles to reinforce RDM.This research discovered that poor level of collaboration between researchers and librarians,lack of RDM skill,lack of technological innovation and financial constraints are key challenges of academic libraries in Ghana.Nevertheless,academic libraries in Ghana exhibit potentials for revitalizing RDM in the areas of health,education,employment,land and housing,governance,water and sanitation,agriculture,energy,urbanization,youth and gender studies,and the environment.The study innovatively creates a real-time framework that ensures research data management practices are inextricably intertwined with national development.To harness the socio-economic benefits of RDM in Ghana,a strategic and comprehensive RDM framework is developed that depicts real-time coordination among stakeholders.The recommended national RDM policy framework with an embedded enterprise wide research management information system will hone the expertise of academic libraries in Ghana,direct their RDM strategies and assure the world's academic library industry of an effective RDM strategy that drives global development.