RIN/JISC Data Centres report

On getting to grips with the RIN / JISC data centres report we can further entice you to check it out noting that whilst the report is not aimed solely at biomedical researchers, the Data Centres included in the study number amongst them the:

National Cancer Data Repository

European Bioinformatics Institute

Economic and Social Data Repository

Chemical Database Service

and that the UK research funders in the study include:

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Cancer Research UK

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Economic and Social Research Council

Medical Research Council

Natural Environment Research Council

Science and Technology Facilities Council

Wellcome Trust

The report looks at the reuse of datasets (considered as a primary research output) alone or in combination, at the data centres which are facilitating this usage and at the researchers who are making use of these facilities.

The high-level finding is that "Overall, usage of data centres is high, with most centres supporting thousands of researchers and millions of downloads each year."

Also that "most researchers felt that data centres had improved the culture of data sharing within their research field" and "the most widely-agreed benefit of data centres is research efficiency. Data centres make research quicker, easier and cheaper, and ensure that work is not repeated unnecessarily."