Guest post by Maryam Zaringhalam, PhD, Data Science and Open Science Officer for the NLM Office of Strategic Initiatives; Lisa Federer, PhD, Acting Director of NLM Office of Strategic Initiatives; and Martha Meacham, MA, MLIS, Project Director for NLM’s Network of the National Library of Medicine.
Last year, NIH was one of several federal agencies to join the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in their celebration of 2023 as the Year of Open Science. During that time, we noted how NLM’s long-standing commitment to provide access to research products and processes aligns with the U.S. Government’s definition of open science:
The principle and practice of making research products and processes available to all, while respecting diverse cultures, maintaining security and privacy, and fostering collaborations, reproducibility, and equity.
NLM has nearly two centuries of experience delivering information to those who need it, when they need it. Of course, our offerings have evolved and expanded since our inception, long before the term “open science” was coined. Observing the Year of Open Science allowed us an opportunity to reflect and strengthen this foundation. Let’s break down this definition of open science to explore how.
The principle and practice of making research products and processes available to all…
Democratizing access to the products and processes of research is at the core of open science. As the world’s largest biomedical library, NLM offers resources that play a critical role in facilitating access to biomedical and life sciences literature and data. Additionally, our research and leadership in standards and terminology development facilitate more efficient dissemination and discovery of these research outputs while enabling reuse to power data-driven research.
Last year, NLM continued exploring opportunities to advance discovery and innovation through greater availability of NIH-funded research outputs. We announced the second phase of the NIH Preprint Pilot to further investigate how including preprints in PubMed Central (PMC) and indexing them in PubMed could accelerate the discovery, use, and impact of NIH-funded research. Further, NLM recently established the Center for Clinical Observational Investigations to reduce access barriers to clinical data by curating metadata from large-scale clinical datasets in order to create avenues for promoting biomedical discovery, tool development, and clinical insight.
Beyond providing access to data, NLM continued to promote open science skill building. For example, our Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) National Center for Data Services helped the research community address the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Policy by hosting trainings to increase data and open science capacity and releasing a toolkit to support effective and responsible data management and sharing practices. In addition, to help the research community better navigate the data sharing landscape, NLM also unveiled the improved look and feel of the Trans-NIH BioMedical Informatics Coordinating Committee (BMIC) Sharing Repositories website to more easily locate appropriate repositories for sharing or accessing data.
…while respecting diverse cultures…
Embedded in this definition of open science is a commitment to reflecting the needs, views, and experiences of everyone across our society. With over 8,800 points of presence across the country, NNLM serves as a powerful bridge between NIH and diverse communities nationwide.
In 2023, NNLM continued partnering with public libraries to support community citizen science projects, where library patrons collected and shared data that directly affected their unique communities. NNLM also partnered with different groups—including community-based organizations and academic institutions, as well as tribal nations—to help address their specific needs for research and data access. This included funding projects through grants like the Health Information Outreach Awards that address health equity and literacy and innovating ways to share NLM stories and data through initiatives such as the newly launched NNLM Discovery Podcast.
…maintaining security and privacy…
Security and privacy are key to maintaining NLM’s position as a reliable and trusted source of biomedical and health information. For example, the infrastructure that powers our Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP) allows for controlled access that respects and protects the interests of research participants and provides oversight and accountability in how sensitive datasets are used.
…and fostering collaborations, reproducibility, and equity.
As a platform for biomedical discovery and data-powered health, NLM’s research, products, and services continue to provide avenues for collaborations among diverse users that drive discovery, inform decision-making, and advance the health of our communities. One way we do this is by maintaining the NIH Common Data Elements (CDE) Repository. This repository provides access to over 23,000 CDEs—standardized, precisely defined offsets of questions and sets of allowable responses that are used systematically across multiple sites or studies. These CDEs facilitate interoperability and reproducibility across clinical research and enable global collaborations to address pressing research challenges and to advance equitable health outcomes.
The activities outlined above are just a small slice of NLM’s contributions to the open science movement, with our mission and strategic plan cutting across each aspect of open science. While the 2023 Year of Open Science may have come to a close, NLM’s work to advance a future for open science in service of biomedical discovery and human health continues into 2024 and beyond.
Maryam Zaringhalam, PhD
Data Science and Open Science Officer, Office of Strategic Initiatives, NLMDr. Zaringhalam is responsible for monitoring and coordinating data science and open science activities and development across NLM, NIH, and beyond. She completed her PhD in molecular biology at Rockefeller University before joining NLM as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow.
Lisa Federer, PhD
Acting Director, Office of Strategic Initiatives, NLMDr. Federer serves as principal advisor to the NLM Director on strategic directions of NLM, including open science, analysis, evaluation, and reporting on NLM programs and activities. Prior to this position, Dr. Federer served as NLM’s Data Science and Open Science Librarian and previously served as the Research Data Informationist at the NIH Library, where she developed and ran the Library’s Data Services Program. She holds a PhD in information studies from the University of Maryland and a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as graduate certificates in data science and data visualization.
Martha Meacham, MA, MLIS
Project Director, Network of the National Library of Medicine, NLMBefore leading NNLM as its Project Director, Ms. Meacham was the Associate Director of the NNLM New England region within the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She also managed two Veterans Administration Medical Center libraries, worked with the Association of American Medical Colleges, and assisted with patient education at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Martha holds a B.S. in psychology and was a mental health counselor before earning a Master of Library and Information Science and a Master of Arts in History from Simmons College.
Drs. Faringhalam and Federer –
If a goal of the NIH is open science, why is the NLM building closed to the public? As a physician, I would enjoy and learn from wandering “the stacks” as I did in my medical school library.
Open the NLM please.
Regards,
Steven Schopler MD