According to a recent report, Data centres: their use, value and impact,

"In recent years, the value of data as a primary research output has begun to be increasingly recognised. New technology has made it possible to create, store and reuse datasets, either for new analysis or for combination with other data in order to answer different questions. In the UK, academic researchers, funders and institutions have responded to these possibilities by supporting a number of data centres - organisations with responsibility for supplying research data to the academic community, and in some cases for collecting, storing and curating such data as well."

Australia is about to follow suit by the creation of research nodes funded by the national Research Data Storage Infrastructure Project. The nodes will store datasets of national significance and make them available for others.

But how good are data centres in storing, curating and making data available for reuse?

This new report from the Research Information Network provides an analysis of the usage and impact of a number of research data centres in different UK research disciplines.

Findings include:

• Use of data centres is high. Most centres supported thousands of researchers and millions of downloads each year.
• Data is used in several ways:
  • for original research
  • for combination with other data
  • for reference
  • as a basis for further data collection in some cases.
• A majority of researchers cite the centre, the data set or the original creator when re-using content.
• The greatest benefit is research efficiency
  • research is quicker, easier and cheaper
  • research is not repeated unnecessarily.