Exploring research data management from a data user’s perspective

Current research data management practices focus more on data collecting, curating and sharing than on supporting data use and reuse. This research studies research data management from a data user’s perspective and aims to reveal what research data service features may support data reuse. Two data repositories – the TREC website and the GRI data repository – were studied and compared from the perspectives of three types of data users (i.e., insiders, community users, and public users). The TREC website can support data reuse for insiders and community users, but not necessarily public users. The GRI repository can support data reuse for some insiders only. The findings have multiple implications for research data management.