10 dissemination
abstract: dissemination of results. Publication of software and research data for reuse.
The final step in the work process is the dissemination of results, which includes traditional publication methods (papers, books, conference presentations) as well as newer approaches, such as the publication of software used in the process, the generated data, and data and software studies focusing specifically on these, blogging and microblogging, sharing presentation slides and recordings, and participating in professional organizations. I would like to emphasize the importance of special data sharing. Imagine the following scenario: a researcher has worked hard to enrich a popular data source with high research potential that is maintained by a public collection. Later, another researcher would like to use the same database for their research. If she is not familiar with the previous researcher’s work, she can start the data enrichment process from scratch. But even if the first researcher published his data enrichment, it is much more likely that the subsequent researchers will find and use the original database. To prevent this, researchers would need to return the modified data to the original data provider. Fortunately, MARC21, introduced in the 34th update in 20221 a data provenance subfield to distinguish between data recorded by the library and data recorded by the researcher (and it is available in most fields), which could be a theoretical remedy for the library’s legitimate demand to take responsibility for its own data. In the life sciences, researchers can use nanopublications to share data enrichment steps with libraries, which can then incorporate them into their catalogs without compromising their own responsibility and credibility. The second researcher can then work on the data-enriched version. In order to realize this vision, communication between the parties must be standardized, and the research community can play a coordinating role in this process.