Mendeley Data
Elsevier has launched Mendeley Data, a cloud-based platform designed to help universities and researchers manage, share and showcase their research data.
With Mendeley Data, the company says, researchers can safely record and share research data while improving its reuse via publication, while universities can showcase institutional outputs and improve their collaboration rate.
The volume, complexity and fragmentation of research data has historically made it difficult for researchers and universities to have a clear, single overview of their data, its quality, and how it is being used. However, there is increasing pressure on institutions to improve their data management and comply with funding bodies’ mandates to share funded research data alongside publications.
Wouter Haak, Elsevier's vice president for product strategy, said: 'Research data is incredibly valuable, but much of its value is currently locked away or lost, and this slows down the pace of scientific advancement. We developed Mendeley Data to provide researchers and universities with an end-to-end solution for data management, from the lab bench all the way to the vice-chancellor’s office.'
Research data management is technically challenging on many levels, particularly because the data is often sensitive (for example, involving patient medical records) or housed in separate silos. Some research data is still typically recorded in paper notebooks, necessitating expensive and time-consuming re-work if notes are lost. Many researchers and institutions also lack the ability to securely and easily share their data with collaborators around the world, which limits their exposure.