Realities of Academic Data Sharing

The Realities of Academic Data Sharing (RADS) Initiative, based at Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries & University Museums, is a collaborative research project with 12 academic institutions, focused on understanding the costs and practices associated with providing research data management and sharing infrastructure. Now in its second phase, RADS builds on earlier work to identify strategic areas for institutional investment in data management and sharing.

The RADS Initiative seeks to answer three key questions in its current phase:

  1. What service and cost models do institutions use to support research data management and sharing policies?
  2. What are the direct expenses for institutions, particularly academic libraries, in implementing federally mandated data-sharing policies?
  3. What costs do researchers incur to comply with funded research data-sharing policies?

To address these questions, the project employs mixed-methods research protocols, including surveys to administrators and funded researchers, as well as interviews with researchers funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). This research aims to accelerate understanding of expenses and service models across a wide range of disciplines, guiding strategic investments for research libraries and institutions in data management and sharing. 

Cost Transparency Convening. In October 2026, the project is co-convening Advancing Library Cost Transparency Across the Research Enterprise, an invitational meeting in Washington, DC that will produce a landscape paper and an institutional self-assessment tool on library research support costs and the value of library cost transparency.

Funding. This research is currently funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, LG-254930-OLS-23, and was made possible in part by the National Science Foundation, #2135874, and RADS site institutions. RADS was originally led by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in partnership with the Data Curation Network (DCN). Following disruptions to federal grant funding in 2025, the IMLS award was reinstated in December 2025; RADS site institutions sustained the research in the interim.

Participating institutions.

Duke University · Johns Hopkins University · New York University · University at Buffalo · University of Arizona · University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa · University of Kentucky · University of Minnesota · University of Nebraska–Lincoln · University of Nevada, Las Vegas · University of South Carolina · Washington University in St. Louis