Open data as one of the core concepts of Open Science deals with the online publication of research data gathered during a research project and made available for access and reuse (Pontika et al. 2015). Even though other concepts of the open science movement have longer traditions (e.g. open access), benefits of open data are widely accepted: Making research data available increases efficiency of scientific knowledge generation (Kindling et al. 2017). Especially, cost-intensive data collections that are typical for the field of education can be used multiple times (Meyermann et al. 2017; van der Zee und Reich 2018). Furthermore, the availability of research data and research materials that accompany published research can foster transparency in research processes, because an interested audience can check the applied methodology. In addition, new discoveries are facilitated and duplicate work will be reduced if datasets are easily accessible (Kindling et al. 2017). Considering these benefits, funding organizations established data policies to influence the reuse of research data. At the same time, data curation is increasingly promoted and funded by governments (e.g. European Commission 2017) leading to a growing number of activities in data publishing and growing numbers of data providers.

Even though there has been a lot of progress, the release and reuse of open data still remains challenging. This is especially the case in educational research, which is characterized by its multidisciplinary nature. Since several disciplinary and institutional repositories provide open data, it is challenging for researchers to navigate through the jungle of repositories and research data centers (RDC) with its various data files and access conditions. The Registry of Research Data Repositories (Re3data.org), for instance, lists 194 repositories providing data related to the keyword “education”. On the other hand, researchers are challenged by the application of legal regulations – for instance data privacy - specifically in educational research, where data is commonly highly sensitive (e.g. underage population, personal data). Data release and reuse is restricted by these regulations and researchers are often insecure in applying correct measures. Finally, reuse of data requires a high quality of data preparation and documentation, which in turn raise the need of profound data management standards.

The target of this paper is to describe the activities of the joint project “German Network for Educational Research Data” (Verbund Forschungsdaten Bildung, VerbundFDB) that started in Germany and aims to overcome these challenges for open data in educational research. The project unites data repositories to foster a joint representation of educational research data and collaborates with researchers and experts in data management. Reciprocal exchange within and between the groups of data producers and data provides is intended to foster the process of, archiving and reuse. In the following, we describe the methods - or rather the strategies - of the joint infrastructure.

The VerbundFDB is a central point of access in Germany to find, share and manage research data in educational sciences. The VerbundFDB operates as a federated infrastructure with a decentralized data curation and a centralized access point for research data and information services. The RDC, which are connected in VerbundFDB, are each specialized on a certain kind of data (e.g., large-scale assessments, higher education research). Thus, having a decentralized data curation allows RDC to contribute their individual and specialized competence in managing data in their respective field of expertise. In addition, the joint access point addresses researchers’ needs of centralized information and data access. This federated infrastructure requires specific workflows for technical collaboration and organizational collaboration. Thus, participating RDC are collaborating in regular meetings and working groups to jointly set up and enhance common standards of archiving and curation. As one of its outputs, RDC developed a common core set of metadata. In turn, this core set allows the representation of research data in a central search engine. RDC may use a technical interface to import and link their data automatically to the search engine. Thus, researchers can browse and access research data provided by several RDC in a central search tool. In addition, the federated infrastructure allows researchers to centrally submit their data for publication. A coordinator evaluates incoming data regarding quality standards, research topics and research methods and assigns the data to the RDC of the federated network, which fits best to the data in substantive scope and methodological expertise. Finally, the VerbundFDB strategically addresses the data management practices of researchers. In topic specific workshops, written guidelines and individual counselling, researchers’ competencies in data processing standards and legal knowledge (e.g. on data privacy) are trained. These practices enable researchers to generate research data with high quality, which, in turn, leads to a growing number of data files that can be made available to the research community.

After some years, where VerbundFDB established its workflow and services, it is now in a functional working state. The major goal for a future development is to ensure a long-term impact on the whole field of research and establishing open data as a standard in educational science. To achieve this goal, a number of developments are necessary. A major prerequisite is to ensure a stable funding of VerbundFDB. Currently, it is funded on a project basis. To guarantee that research data is accessible over a prolonged period of at least 10 years, it is a current focus of activity to acquire a long-term financial perspective. Furthermore, to have an impact on the whole breadth of educational research disciplines, it is vital to be in constant interaction with research communities. However, communities differ in their open data practices. For example, in qualitative research in Germany, sharing data is less common and data reuse is more restricted, since qualitative data is often context specific and sensitive (Medjedović 2011). However, training and support for researchers in data management practices already raised the number of data shared. By collaborative work of RDC and researches on the needs and practices for open data, a cultural change can be supported potentially. Finally, a major goal is to extend the network of RDC and foster international connections. By establishing international connections, the availability of open data will not be limited by national boundaries. In addition, international standards in data curation could be established. In conclusion, VerbundFDB is an established player in the German Open Science movement. To further foster this open culture in the future, it will be necessary to establish further networks that span multiple disciplines and nations.

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