Open Research Conversation: Spotlight on Data Journals

Recording of the following session, part of the 'Open Research Conversations' seminar series at the University of Sheffield (organised by the University Library, Scholarly Communications Team), held on 12 February 2025:

Spotlight on Data Journals

Data journals offer researchers an opportunity to increase the impact of their openly available data by further documenting a dataset and highlighting the possibilities for its exploration and reuse.

In this Open Research Conversation, we’ll explore the phenomenon of data journals from a number of different perspectives and disciplinary contexts. Vanessa Higgins (University of Manchester) will explore her role as editorial board member for the Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences, while University of Sheffield researchers Tecla Bonci (Mechanical Engineering) and Jacob MacDonald (Urban Studies and Planning) discuss their own experiences of publishing in data journals.

Key areas of discussion will include the significance of data journals in Humanities and Social Science as well as STEM disciplines, the aspects and use cases of a dataset that publication in a data journal allows academic authors to showcase, and the impacts that can result in terms of visibility, transparency and collaboration.