Open Scholarship and Research Data Services (OSRDS) supports the creation, sharing, and reuse of scholarship and research data. Our areas of expertise include open access, open repository, research data, and scholarly publishing. Our department unifies the former Office for Scholarly Communication and the Research Data Management Program.
Vision
We aim to be a central node in Harvard’s research ecosystem, making open, transparent, and equitable access to research the default; enhancing innovation; and extending the benefits of open scholarship globally.
Mission
We lead programs and services to open, share, and manage scholarship and research data to ensure scholarly research outputs are free and accessible for all.
Open Scholarship
Encompassing a wide range of activities and services, our work aims to provide the broadest possible access to scholarship within the Harvard community and among global communities of researchers. We collaborate with our colleagues, scholars, practitioners, and service partners to:
- Steward the Harvard Open Access Policies and engage in policy initiatives at institutional, national, and international levels.
- Manage Harvard’s open access institutional repository DASH in support of researchers, students, faculty, and staff who share their work freely and publicly.
- Manage the Harvard Open Journals Program to support the publication of qualifying open access journals and ensure their enduring success.
- Participate in collective funding initiatives and open access sponsorships of scholarly publishing activities, networks, and infrastructure.
- Consult with Harvard authors and practitioners on open access models and policies, author-publisher agreements, negotiation strategy, and more.
We are members and partners of the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR), CORE (COnnecting REpositories), the DSpace Community Advisory Team, the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation (IPLC), SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), and the US Repository Network.
Research Data Services
Fulfilling the Harvard community’s research data management needs exceeds the capabilities of any single organization. We connect members of the Harvard community to services and resources that span the research data lifecycle, helping to ensure that Harvard’s multidisciplinary research data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).
We partner with members of Harvard’s network of data practitioners, subject experts, and resource providers to:
- Identify, develop, and coordinate access to scalable research data services and resources for researchers and library staff, including training and consultation services, guidelines, and technology.
- Seek out and engage in collaborations and partnerships to deliver new or improved research data management resources to the Harvard community and beyond.
- Serve as a formal channel of communication for Harvard’s research data lifecycle requirements and activities, including promoting events and services and engaging in outreach on University policies, standards, and best practices.
- Monitor and assess existing programs to deliver timely, relevant, and data-informed program improvements to users.