Skip to Main Content

FAIR and Open NTRO Framework

 

Introduction

Post-production

Research lifecycle stages: Communicate and Engage

The Communicate and engage phase includes the promotion and dissemination of research outputs along with a focus on the impact, reach and engagement of these research outputs. Impact can range from academic impact to cross sectoral impact to wider societal impact. This section includes the following components.

Focus areas:

Publishing | Mode of presentation | Third-party repositories | Dissemination, discoverability and promotion | Persistent identifiers | Managing access | Researcher profiles | Impact, reach and engagement | Share and re-use (open licensing) | Preservation and archiving

Focus areas are presented under maturity levels (described below) within categories of 'aims', 'advocacy/enablement', and 'tiered services'. The Framework's advice for focus areas is presented in maturity brackets, but the advice within each maturity-level bracket is not necessarily interdependent, e.g. the 'tiered services' for an advanced-level bracket will sometimes not be a reflection of that bracket's 'aims', and instead be a very mature service stemming from an introductory-level 'aim'.

Post-Production Maturity Levels

Maturity levels:

 

Introductory level support includes NTROs in its default handling of research outputs for the institutional repository, any researcher profiling tools, and the central research administration platform. Research output self-archiving and publication formatting advice provides a distinction for considerations in NTROs. Third-party repositories are acknowledged, but are not supported or integrated into central tools as feeds or deposits. Institutional repositories present NTROs in the same way as traditional research outputs.

  • Resources - Guides and self-help materials for the discovery and dissemination of research, eg strategic publication, include mention of NTROs as separate from traditional research outputs. Licensing advice is provided for NTROs. Basic metrics for measuring impact, engagement, reach of NTROs are included in relevant publishing or bibliometric guides.
  • Services - Advice is available for external publication/self-archiving platforms, showcasing NTROs, applying persistent identifiers, open access levels, and inclusion in researcher profiles.
  • Specialist Staff  / Committee - Copyright Officers, institutional repository Librarians, Research Support Librarians, and Research Office professionals have an understanding of NTROs and how the university includes them in annual collections reporting/ researcher profiles.
  • Policy / Procedure - Open Access and Preservation Policies and Procedures include NTROs as distinct from traditional research outputs.
 

An intermediate level institution extends the practices of an introductory level institution by displaying NTROs in ways better suited to their formats (images, audio, video, etc), providing informed and up-to-date advice on measures and evidence for impact, and by delineating NTROs and TROs in researcher profiles and academic promotions/annual collection methods. Intermediate institutions make efforts to specify advice and system operations to cater to the specific ways NTROs should be disseminated and presented for research audiences.

  • Resources - Standalone guides and self-help materials exist for NTRO repository submissions and showcasing. Metrics and research impact reporting guides are rewritten specifically for NTROs.
  • Services - Open Access, Academic Promotion, and Research dissemination consultancy, classes, and events either include dedicated sections for NTROs or are run specifically for NTRO creators.
  • Specialist Staff  / Committee - Copyright Officers, institutional repository Librarians, Research Support Librarians, and Research Office professionals have support for the discovery and reporting on NTROs included in their role remits.
  • Policy / Procedure - Policies and Procedures exist for the consideration of NTROs in academic promotion and approved use of third-party repositories. Policies and Procedures for Open Access/managing access, Researcher Profiles, and Evidence of Impact have dedicated sections for NTROs as distinct from TROs.
 

An advanced level institution extends the practices of an intermediate level institution by granting researchers greater input and control in the presentation and description of their NTROs in their profiles and in the institutional repository. The advanced institution is participating in furthering the cause for better treatment of NTROs in the international Open Access to research communities through working groups, communities of practice, lobbying, and direct development for major systems like persistent identifiers, research benchmarking, records interoperability, and categorisation of research types.

  • Resources - Repositories with options for control over presentation including the presentation of different formats.
  • Services - Researcher profiling platforms and the institutional repository allow researchers autonomy and some control in the presentation of their NTROs.
  • Specialist Staff  / Committee - Staff are able to advise on systems integrations and APIs.
  • Policy / Procedure - The University is engaged and lobbying major external groups (ORCiD, ARC/NHRMC, DOIs, etc) to better handle NTROs.
 

Publishing

Publishing:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Frame publishing in its broadest sense, i.e. to make public.
  • Self service: Strategic publishing guides use a broad definition of publishing and include modes of publication for NTROs, e.g. event websites, third party/industry repositories etc.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Support variety of publication modes such as event websites, third party/industry repositories etc.
  • Facilitate self publication.
  • Develop repositories able to offer self-publication option.
  • Develop training in publishing NTROs using developed bibliographic standards and via a range of example platforms.
  • Research support: Strategic publishing sessions include information on publishing NTROs.
  • Specialist assistance: Assistance and advice in publishing to internal and external repositories and platforms.
 
 

Mode of Presentation

Mode of Presentation:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Convey richness of NTROs.
  • Enhance visual impact of presentation.
  • Facilitate researcher control over presentation.
  • Review resource type categories in repository to ensure they are multiple and varied.
  • Self service: Guidance on embedding items from Repository on websites.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Develop repositories able to display and interact with formats and media relevant to NTROs - e.g., embed text and video, provide tabs for contextual information, allow attribution.
  • Develop inclusive field labels not just focused on textual sources.
  • Review how Indigenous material is presented. Engage with indigenous communities for decision making and obtaining agreement on presentation issues.
  • Specialist assistance: Advice and guidance on different formats, digital capture etc.
  • Specialist assistance: Advice and guidance on how different types of research output are presented.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Develop repositories that provide user control over presentation.
  • Develop repositories capable of exposing content in machine-readable formats via APIs.
  • Develop discipline recommended formats for presentation of different NTROs (eg video walkthrough).
  • Specialist assistance: Advice on systems integrations, use of APIs or referral to technical support.
 

Third-party Repositories

Third-party Repositories:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Support NTRO management outside repository environment.
  • Facilitate interoperability with institutional repository.
  • Promote institutional repository as a place where researchers can draw together material published elsewhere and give it academic and institutional visibility.
  • Recognise that institutional repository can be used as metadata registry for NTROs.
  • Self service: Information on procedures, standards, support, including for a variety of platforms, eg Zenodo, Figshare.com, Dryad.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Research support: Education about general bibliographic management and NTROs.
  • Research support: Advice and guidance with regard to citation and PIDs when items are on third-party repositories.
 
 

Dissemination, Discoverability, and Promotion

Dissemination, Discoverability, and Promotion:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Enhance dissemination and discoverability.
  • Support promotion of research.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Ensure crosswalk of NTROs into appropriate external integrations, content aggregators, eg academic profiles, Trove.
  • Research support: Strategic publishing support, particularly for HDRs, on the way NTROs disseminated and promoted via activities such as prizes, awards, exhibitions, catalogues.
  • Research support: Strategic publishing support includes promotion of NTROs via social media and different platforms.
  • Specialist assistance: Assist with promotion of items that are otherwise closed, eg stills from film and video.
 
 

Persistent Identifiers

Persistent Identifiers:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Maximise discovery, reuse and citation of NTROs.
  • Supports FAIR.
  • Surface PIDs for NTROs in repositories.
  • Include NTROs in minting services for DOIs.
  • Self-service: Include persistent identifier information in open access publishing and other relevant online information.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Interoperability between ORCID and local systems.
  • Self service: Promoting or specifying DOIs as incentive for publishing through the repository or engaging with the library.
  • Self service: Articulating the value proposition of having NTROs in an ORCID profile (as well as guidance on how to include them). Provide examples for entering NTROs into ORCID.
  • Specialist assistance: Provide direct assistance to apply DOIs, including multi-components.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Lobby ORCID about including NTRO categories.
 

Managing Access

Managing Access:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Raise awareness of library and specialist assistance for access issues.
  • Facilitate sharing and licensing of NTROs.
  • Review cultural access conditions.
  • Configuring repositories able to provide mediated access.
  • Understanding of the types of access requests and reuse requirements.
  • Self service: Mediated access or redaction for First Nations tagged material - involvement of Indigenous research stakeholders.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Negotiate issues such as performing rights, commercialisation and copyright.
  • Make some aspect of closed material available (extracts, stills).
  • Facilitate advice from specialist assistance areas such as copyright and commercialisation.
  • Support development of open access policy to reflect NTRO requirements around mediated access.
  • Self service: Promotion of mediated access for issues related to copyright and IP protection, confidentiality, commercialisation, contractual obligations, performing rights etc .
  • Specialist assistance: Consider open features for closed access materials, eg. stills from a film.
  • Specialist assistance: Support provided for the creation of sharing agreements and policy.
 
 

Researcher Profiles

Researcher Profiles:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Inclusion of NTROs in researcher profiles.
  • Repository support for NTROs and profiles.
  • Ensuring NTROs deposited in repository can flow through to researcher Profiles.
  • Self service: Promotion of the relevance of researcher IDs for NTROs in researcher profile guides.
  • Research support: Include training on developing Researcher profiles that include NTROs.
  • Specialist assistance: Provide assistance for NTROs to appear in ORCID repository and institutional profiles.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Specialist assistance: Assist with researcher IDs and multiple authors.
 
 

Impact, Reach, and Engagement

Impact, Reach, and Engagement:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Support connection between impact and FAIR and Open.
  • Advocacy of the application of a DOI to the NTRO to support engagement.
  • Self service: Provide guides on measuring impact, reach and engagement and using metrics for NTROs.
  • Self service: Information on importance of DOIs for tracking interest and engagement/ reach and attention.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Identification of academic, sectorial, societal forms of impact for NTROs.
  • Providing evidence of reach and engagement impact for grants, academic promotion etc.
  • Ensure interoperability between ORCID and other researcher IDs and repository.
  • Work with grants and academic promotions areas on assisting researchers with evidence of research reach and attention.
  • Ensure repository tracks and displays alternative metrics.
  • Research support: provide training on providing evidence of research impact, reach and engagement for NTROs; raise awareness about use and downloads.
  • Specialist assistance: Provide individual assistance on the identification and documentation of reach and engagement.
 
 

Share and Re-use (Open Licensing)

Share and Re-use (Open Licensing):

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Raise awareness of Creative Commons (CC) Licensing and library assistance in this area.
  • Assist in sharing and dissemination of outputs.
  • Review resourcing and referral to information around CC licensing.
  • Advocate for CC in relevant institutional policies eg. RDM policy, IP policy.
  • Self service: Online guides that explain rights retention and implications of different forms of Creative Commons licensing including re-use of third party material.
  • Research support: Raise awareness about benefits of sharing and re-use.
  • Specialist assistance: Advise on applying licences in particular instances.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Provide advice on managing copyright, including multiple copyright owners, multicomponent items.
  • Enhance understanding of Creative Commons licensing.
  • Researcher support: Provide sessions on rights retention, re-use and different forms of Creative Commons licensing.
  • Specialist Assistance: Advise on more restrictive Creative Commons licence, for example, items containing Indigenous Knowledge or cultural sensitivity.
  • Specialist Assistance: Advise on implications of licence restrictions for re-use of third party material.
 
 

Preservation and Archiving

Preservation and Archiving:

 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Raise awareness of importance of preservation and archiving.
  • Provide means of archiving.
  • Develop preservation policy and procedure for NTROs.
  • Advocate for institutional preservation service.
  • Self service: Include information about preservation and archiving in repository info, FAQs etc.
  • Self service: Adequate knowledge and resources available for storage of NTROs in repository or other device.
  • Research support: repository support for preservation and archiving and storage.
  • Specialist assistance: Advice and assistance on preservation areas including the use of preservation tools.
 

Aims

Advocacy/enablement

Tiered service
  • Preserve from multiple locations and platforms.
  • Understand and provide options for preservation, archiving and storage of NTROs.
  • Provide process for documentation and preservation of records for NTROs where output cannot be preserved.
  • Engage records and engagement areas of the university around preservation and archiving of NTROs.
  • Specialist assistance: Management of items with larger file sizes. Tools and process.
  • Specialist assistance: Advice and assistance on digital curation.
  • Specialist assistance: Draw on support of archives and digital preservation resources and support.
 
 

More information

Resources

Resources and examples

Creative outputs repository

Deakin Exhibits Online https://fusion.deakin.edu.au/

Griffith University Creative Works https://griffith.figshare.com/

 

Publishing NTROs

Curtin University Library Strategic publishing https://researchtoolkit.library.curtin.edu.au/publishing/strategic-publishing/non-traditional-research-outputs-ntros/

UNSW Library Publishing strategy guide https://subjectguides.library.unsw.edu.au/publishing/nontraditional

University of Sydney Library Strategic Publishing - Conferences and NTROs https://www.library.sydney.edu.au/research/strategic-publishing/index.php?section=conferences-and-NTROs

 

Evidence of impact

University of Melbourne Library: Research Impact for Fine Arts and Music 

Deakin University Library Research Metrics Toolkit https://deakin.libguides.com/c.php?g=929079&p=6711981

QUT Library 23 Scholarly communication things - Metrics for NTROs

https://researchtoolkit.library.curtin.edu.au/publishing/strategic-publishing/non-traditional-research-outputs-ntros/

 

Preservation and archiving

USyd library guide on archiving digital content https://www.library.sydney.edu.au/research/archiving-data.html