Global research trends in research data management: A bibliometrics approach

Abstract

With an increasing interest in RDM services in libraries and information organizations, research on RDM has evolved dramatically in recent years. This study aims to investigate how RDM research evolves globally and to provide an understanding of how RDM research differs by countries. Through bibliometrics approaches, this study analyzes a large set of RDM research publications to provide a comprehensive landscape of the RDM research field. The findings from the examination of 403 articles extracted from the Web of Science database successfully demonstrate the global trends of RDM research, showing how RDM research has spread from North American and European countries to Asian and African countries. The analysis of RDM research topics from the three top publishing countries—Germany, USA and the UK—reveals that different countries focus on different topics and that research topics change along with other factors, such as the adoption of a standard. The bibliometrics analysis on the topic trends show that there were five major research topics which are identified as the fundamentals and practices of library services, and the research data sharing topics. There was a clear distinction of the interests in RDM research until 2018 and after 2019. The findings show that the distinction was impacted by the new appearance of the FAIR Guiding Principles in 2016. The findings of the study successfully identify major trends in RDM research topics and different trends by countries based on their interests and circumstances. From these findings, researchers and library professionals in RDM services can gain a good understanding of current interests in RDM services and identify needs from these research trends to improve their services.