Beyond Publication - A Passage Through Project StORe

The principal aim of Project StORe is to provide middleware that will enable bi-directional links between source repositories of research data and the output repositories containing research publications derived from these data. This two-way link is intended to improve opportunities for information discovery and the curation of valuable research output. In immediate terms, it is expected to improve citation rates as a consequence of increasing the accessibility of research output. A survey of researchers in seven scientific disciplines was used to identify workflows and norms in the use of source and output repositories, with particular attention being paid to the existence of common attributes across disciplines, the functional enhancements to repositories considered to be desirable and perceived problems in the use of repositories. Cultural issues were also investigated. From the results of the survey, a generic technical specification was designed and a pilot environment created based upon the UK Data Archive (source repository) and the London School of Economics' Research Articles Online (output repository). A further link to a prototype institutional repository at the University of Essex was used as a control mechanism. The StORe middleware was designed using a Web 2.0 approach similar to existing FOAF (Friend Of A Friend) services such as Flickr and MySpace, but incorporating a federation of institutional, source and output repositories rather than one central area where digital objects are deposited. Researchers can deposit digital material in various formats at their institutional repositories until the data and publications are made available at linked source and output repositories. An enabling central portal provides an OAI-based aggregator service, which harvests the contents of the federation's repositories and provides a simple search facility. Whilst all digital objects are title visible, a key feature of the middleware is the Flickr-like option for regulating access, which gives researchers control over who can see objects they have designated 'non-public'. Using the StORe middleware, it will be possible to traverse the research data environment and its outputs by stepping seamlessly from within an electronic publication directly to the data upon which its findings were based, or linking instantly to all the publications that have resulted from a particular research dataset. It has already been endorsed by participating researchers as having the potential for integrating multiple data sets from different publications. Following completion of the pilot demonstrator, an independent evaluation undertaken by the National Centre for e-Social Science found it effective and easy to use. It may also be said to have broadened the meaning of the terms publish and publication