National bibliographic databases for research output: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

In more and more countries one can find a national bibliographic database for research output as a recent survey of European national bibliographic for research output in the social sciences and humanities shows. Typically these databases can (and are) used to report on, monitor, and evaluate research activities within one national context. At the same time, with the ubiquity of tools and methods to generate data-driven insights, these databases appear as valuable sources for the furthering of our understanding of research activities more generally. This means going beyond the data use only in national settings. A closer inquiry into the database work underpinning the various European databases, however, points to challenges for the use of data from multiple national databases. For example, one can see differences in criteria that are used to include new database records, the use of different output type and disciplinary classifications, and also different approaches to the record quality control. These challenges, their meaning as well as implications for the use of data from national databases in cross-country settings is the focus of this presentation.