SPbPU is the Only National Operator of the International Association DataCite

18 February 2016 Achievements 1756
International Data Citation Initiative

One of the main conditions for the development of science is prompt publication of research papers reflecting the current results obtained by researchers. However, at times years might pass before an article describing an experiment is published and it can be presented to the academic community! Nowadays, this problem simply does not exist at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University: SPbPU has become the first institution in Russia to get a full membership at the international association DataCite.

The international association DataCite (International Data Citation Initiative), apart from identification and providing access to research data via the Internet, simplifies the citation procedure of the current unpublished research data: the results of experiments, video and audio materials, computer and climate models, arrays of digital data, 3D objects.

SPbPU is the Only National Operator of the International Association DataCite

Today 35 high profile research and education organizations are DataCite members, such as Harvard Library, National Center for Scientific Research, France, CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and a range of other prominent institutions from all over the world.

“The organizer of DataCite is the German National Library of Science and Technology, which is also the library of Leibniz Universität Hannover. We cooperate with this University on the level of universities, as well as libraries”, commented M.S. Lavrova, Deputy Director of the Fundamental Library of SPbPU. “The negotiations took several years, we went on a conference in Hannover, and our German colleagues visited our conference last year, and they even made reports on this topic. As a result, we were elected the only Russian national operator. This is a great step forward”.

SPbPU is the Only National Operator of the International Association DataCite

As it was mentioned above, it takes a lot of time to publish an article following the results of experiments in a renowned journal: waiting, reviewing, checking data, editor's corrections – the process of publication may last for up to a year, and other authors may start to refer to this article only 3-5 years later. By this time the results of experiments will definitely have become outdated.

It is very important that the resultant data array can be described within the system and DOI (DOI – Digital Object Identifier. – Author’s note) can be assigned to it. Thus, absolutely different data, even a 3D model developed at our Fablab, can be published immediately, without the text of an article”, explained Mariya Sergeevna. The staff of the Library Complex describes an object in compliance with certain standards and sends metadata to DataCite whence it is sent to the International DOI Foundation database and Data Citation Index database on the platform called the Web of Science from Thomson Reuters company.

Besides research data, DOI will also be assigned to the journals of SPbPU, papers of conferences held at the University, video lectures and all items of the electronic library of SPbPU. In the nearest future the staff of the Library Complex is to introduce a technology that helps to assign identifiers to items of intellectual property of the staff of the Polytechnic University free of charge.

Media Center, SPbPU

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