In the past decade, research data have become widely recognized as a critical national and global resource, and the risks of losing or mismanaging research data can have severe economic and social consequences. The proliferation of artificial intelligence approaches in all fields has created a huge demand for trustworthy research data in both the natural (e.g., chemistry) and social (e.g., economics) sciences. To address these issues, NIST initiated a new, multi-stakeholder project in fall 2019 entitled the Research Data Framework (RDaF). The RDaF will provide the stakeholder community with a structured approach to develop a customizable strategy for various roles in the research data management ecosystem.
The structure of the RDaF follows that of the NIST Cybersecurity and Privacy Frameworks, which consist of three parts: the Framework Core, the Framework Profiles, and Implementation Tiers.
The Framework Core has four elements:
Framework Profiles enable the RDaF to be tailored to different levels of stakeholders/users from a CEO to an individual researcher. To develop a Framework Profile, an organization will review all the Categories and Subcategories and, considering research/business drivers, determine which are relevant for an organizational unit and/or job function. Categories and Subcategories can be added as needed to fully adapt the RDaF to the specific need or use. Framework Profiles can be used to conduct self-assessments of research data management and communicate the results within an organization or between organizations.
Implementation Tiers are under development and are not available in the current version of the RDaF.
The objective of the next phase in the development of the RDaF is to test the applicability and usefulness of the Framework Core in Appendix A. To accomplish this objective, two concurrent pilot studies—one in Materials Science and the other in Research Universities, including librarian and publisher roles—will be conducted.
NIST Cybersecurity Framework NIST Privacy Framework
Name |
Organization |
Sector |
Laura Biven |
Department of Energy |
Government |
Merce Crosas |
Harvard University |
Academia |
Joshua Greenberg |
Sloan Foundation |
Funder, private foundation |
Hilary Hanahoe |
Research Data Alliance |
International data organization |
Heather Joseph |
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition |
A non-gov't advocacy organization, libraries |
Mark Leggott |
Research Data Canada |
Multi-stakeholder partnership |
Barend Mons |
Leiden University, CODATA, GO-FAIR |
International data organization |
Beth Plale |
National Science Foundation |
Government, funder |
Anita de Waard |
Elsevier |
Scholarly publisher, private sector |