BIMS7100

1. Social Responsibility in
Research
Philip E. Bourne
Founding Dean School of Data Science
University of Virginia
May 4, 2021 BIMS7100 1

2. My Interpretation (in Academia)
• Your research must maximize the benefit to society.. Thus…
• The public is funding your research. They have every right to access all
of that research and to have others do so also …
• Provided:
• a) it does not violate the privacy/desires of the individual
• b) that research is as interpretable and usable as possible – FAIR – Findable,
Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable
• What is right and wrong with this interpretation?
May 4, 2021 BIMS7100 2

3. Probability of
finding the data
associated with a
paper declined by
17% every year
Vines, Timothy et al. “The
Availability of Research Data
Declines Rapidly with Article Age.”
Current Biology (June 1, 2014)
Image: Nature doi:10.1038/nature.2013.14416
Just One Motivator for FAIR –
Data Availability Declines Over Time
ALMOST ALL DATA LOST 10-15 YRS AFTER PUBLICATION
From Emma Ganley @ PLOS

4. Discussion Questions
• Does it matter?
• If yes, what are you aware of
that mitigates this loss?
May 4, 2021 BIMS7100 4

5. More Broadly - Need to Consider All Aspects
of the Research Lifecycle
Publishershttps://www.vertigoventures.com/lesson/embedding-impact/impact-research-life-cycle/
May 4, 2021 BIMS7100 5
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6. Consider One Phase of the Research Lifecycle
and…
List how you can be socially responsible
May 4, 2021 BIMS7100 6

7. We Need to Change the Institutional Culture
• Read
https://api.dsi.virginia.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/2021-
02/School%20of%20Data%20Science%20Open%20Access%20Guideli
nes%20%26%20Recommendations.pdf
• What do you take away from these guidelines?
• Are they something you have or would adopt?
May 4, 2021 7
BIMS7100