Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research
The data ecosystem is complex and involves multiple stakeholders. Researchers and scientists engaging in data-intensive research collect, analyse, store, manage and share large volumes of data. Consequently, capturing researchers’ and scientists’ views from multidisciplinary fields on data use, sha...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Academy of Science of South Africa
2023-05-01
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| Series: | South African Journal of Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://sajs.co.za/article/view/15129 |
| _version_ | 1827937222780780544 |
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| author | Siti M. Kabanda Nezerith Cengiz Kanshukan Rajaratnam Bruce W. Watson Qunita Brown Tonya M. Esterhuizen Keymanthri Moodley |
| author_facet | Siti M. Kabanda Nezerith Cengiz Kanshukan Rajaratnam Bruce W. Watson Qunita Brown Tonya M. Esterhuizen Keymanthri Moodley |
| author_sort | Siti M. Kabanda |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
The data ecosystem is complex and involves multiple stakeholders. Researchers and scientists engaging in data-intensive research collect, analyse, store, manage and share large volumes of data. Consequently, capturing researchers’ and scientists’ views from multidisciplinary fields on data use, sharing and governance adds an important African perspective to emerging debates. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional survey and received 160 responses from researchers and scientists representing 43 sub-Saharan African countries. Whilst most respondents were satisfied with institutional data storage processes, 40% indicated that their organisations or institutions did not have a formally established process for storing data beyond the life cycle of the project. Willingness to share data was generally high, but increased when data privacy was ensured. Robust governance frameworks increased the willingness to share, as did the regulation of access to data on shared platforms. Incentivising data sharing remains controversial. Respondents were satisfied with exchanging their data for co-authorship on publications (89.4%) and collaboration on projects (77.6%). However, respondents were split almost equally in terms of sharing their data for commercial gain. Regarding the process of managing data, 40.6% indicated that their organisations do not provide training on best practices for data management. This could be related to a lack of resources, chronic institutional under-investment, and suboptimal research training and mentorship in sub-Saharan Africa. The sustainability of data sharing may require ethical incentive structures to further encourage researchers and scientists. Tangible infrastructure to facilitate such sharing is a prerequisite. Capacity development in data governance for researchers and scientists is sorely needed.
Significance:
Data sharing is necessary to advance science, yet there are many constraints. In this study, we explored factors that promote a willingness to share, as well as constraining factors. Seeking potential solutions to improve data sharing is a scientific and ethical imperative. The standardisation of basic data sharing and data transfer agreements, and the development of a Data Access Committee will strengthen data governance and facilitate responsible data sharing in sub-Saharan Africa. Funders, institutions, researchers and scientists ought to jointly contribute to fair and equitable data use and sharing during and beyond the life cycle of research projects.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:22:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2a33d14d880a4beeba8015f3fe86cd9d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-7489 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:22:25Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | Academy of Science of South Africa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South African Journal of Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-2a33d14d880a4beeba8015f3fe86cd9d2023-05-31T06:33:54ZengAcademy of Science of South AfricaSouth African Journal of Science1996-74892023-05-011195/610.17159/sajs.2023/15129Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive researchSiti M. Kabanda0Nezerith Cengiz1Kanshukan Rajaratnam2Bruce W. Watson3Qunita Brown4Tonya M. Esterhuizen5Keymanthri Moodley6Centre for Medical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South AfricaCentre for Medical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South AfricaSchool for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South AfricaSchool for Data Science and Computational Thinking, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South AfricaCentre for Medical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South AfricaDivision of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South AfricaCentre for Medical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa The data ecosystem is complex and involves multiple stakeholders. Researchers and scientists engaging in data-intensive research collect, analyse, store, manage and share large volumes of data. Consequently, capturing researchers’ and scientists’ views from multidisciplinary fields on data use, sharing and governance adds an important African perspective to emerging debates. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional survey and received 160 responses from researchers and scientists representing 43 sub-Saharan African countries. Whilst most respondents were satisfied with institutional data storage processes, 40% indicated that their organisations or institutions did not have a formally established process for storing data beyond the life cycle of the project. Willingness to share data was generally high, but increased when data privacy was ensured. Robust governance frameworks increased the willingness to share, as did the regulation of access to data on shared platforms. Incentivising data sharing remains controversial. Respondents were satisfied with exchanging their data for co-authorship on publications (89.4%) and collaboration on projects (77.6%). However, respondents were split almost equally in terms of sharing their data for commercial gain. Regarding the process of managing data, 40.6% indicated that their organisations do not provide training on best practices for data management. This could be related to a lack of resources, chronic institutional under-investment, and suboptimal research training and mentorship in sub-Saharan Africa. The sustainability of data sharing may require ethical incentive structures to further encourage researchers and scientists. Tangible infrastructure to facilitate such sharing is a prerequisite. Capacity development in data governance for researchers and scientists is sorely needed. Significance: Data sharing is necessary to advance science, yet there are many constraints. In this study, we explored factors that promote a willingness to share, as well as constraining factors. Seeking potential solutions to improve data sharing is a scientific and ethical imperative. The standardisation of basic data sharing and data transfer agreements, and the development of a Data Access Committee will strengthen data governance and facilitate responsible data sharing in sub-Saharan Africa. Funders, institutions, researchers and scientists ought to jointly contribute to fair and equitable data use and sharing during and beyond the life cycle of research projects. https://sajs.co.za/article/view/15129big datadata governancesub-Saharan Africaresearchersscientistsdata transfer agreements |
| spellingShingle | Siti M. Kabanda Nezerith Cengiz Kanshukan Rajaratnam Bruce W. Watson Qunita Brown Tonya M. Esterhuizen Keymanthri Moodley Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research South African Journal of Science big data data governance sub-Saharan Africa researchers scientists data transfer agreements |
| title | Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research |
| title_full | Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research |
| title_fullStr | Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research |
| title_short | Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research |
| title_sort | data sharing and data governance in sub saharan africa perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data intensive research |
| topic | big data data governance sub-Saharan Africa researchers scientists data transfer agreements |
| url | https://sajs.co.za/article/view/15129 |
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