WP1 report: Macedonia Aneta Cekik, Klime Babunski, Vesna Zabijakin-Chatleska ISPJR, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje SEEDS Workshop I Belgrade, October

2 SEEDS Workshop I Part I: Policy and legal frameworks 1. Basic features of the science system in Macedonia Research policy institutions relevant for our project: Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Macedonia (MES)-the main national institution in the area of research and education. National council for higher education, science, innovation and technology (NCESIT)- advisory/expert body of the Government. Sector for science, and technical and technological development- specifically responsible for research activities, including research infrastructure. Fund for Innovation and Technological development-recently established as part of the research and development policies (R&D) of the country.

3 SEEDS Workshop I Funding of research Academic research in Macedonia is currently financed by 0.22% of GDP; among the lowest levels of funding in Europe (Erawatch, 2014). In 2011 the share of public (national) funding in the Gross expenditure for R&D was 44.2%, the share of international funding was 43%, while the share of private sector funding was 12.8% (Erawatch, 2014). This includes all scientific disciplines. In 2008, Social sciences received 8.6% of the total GDER. 65.7% of these sources came from the public sector, 15.8% from the private sector, 18.4% from foreign sources, while very small amount of 0.1% came from the private non-profit sector (Josimovski, 2011, p. 21). More than 90% of national expenditure for research consists of salaries for the employed researchers and current expenditures for research institutions (Josimovski, 2011; State statistical office of the R. Macedonia, 2014).

4 SEEDS Workshop I Research institutions in the social sciences in Macedonia 5 public, 11 private universities and other HE/research institutions. Research activity is concentrated in the public sector. Public research institutes- 7 (language and culture; national history) 2 SS research University institutes (out of 5) within Uni SK- ISPJR and Institute of economics Social science department in the Macedonian Academy of Sciences Think tank/NGOs engaged in research- IDSCS, MCIC,CRPM, MCET, EPI and others.

5 SEEDS Workshop I Other relevant institutions State statistical office of the R. Macedonia National archive National and university library (associate member of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje)

6 SEEDS Workshop I Current policy related to science infrastructure Article 54 of the Law on scientific and research activity specifically regulates “Data bases of information about scientific and research activity”. In order to follow more closely scientific and research activity, the Ministry of education and science shall establish and maintain: Data bases of information about research institutions Data bases of researches Data base of research programmes and projects (national and international) Data base of bibliographies of researchers No mention of data bases/archive of research data from conducted research. In strategic documents data preservation infrastructure does not take prominent place.

7 SEEDS Workshop I Key components of the research infrastructures and public institutions taking part in development of research e-infrastructure Key players: Ministry of education and science; Fund for technological development. Existing national capacities: State statistical office of the R. Macedonia National and university library National archive of the R. Macedonia Macedonian academic research network (MARNET) ( Web platform Наука.мк ( Web platform Plagijati.mk (

8 SEEDS Workshop I Support to Open Access to scientific institutions In 2012, within the project Initiative for Open Educational Resources, carried out by Foundation Metamorphosis a working group for promoting the idea of free access to educational resources, that also includes open access to research data, was established. One year later, an informal network of citizens and different institutions (schools, faculties, NGOs) was formed. The Alliance publicly supports the Declaration of UNESCO for Open Educational Resources. In the same time the website OER.MK is a resource center for educational material.

9 SEEDS Workshop I Legal framework regarding data protection and dissemination Law on copyrights and related rights Law on archival material Law on protection of personal data Law on Free Access to Information on Public Character

10 SEEDS Workshop I Existing capacity for data archiving: University of Goce Delchev- Shtip Academic Repository The repository keeps academic information and data in the social sciences and humanities units are currently deposited, mostly research publications. Open access repository, data are publicly available and can be used in non profit goals. Deposited data are protected and kept at servers connected with Data Storage equipment, connected Disaster Recovery System. Data are kept in standardized file format (PDF) connected with appropriate meta data. For research data storage Dublin Core and LOM are used. For confidentiality OAIS is used, with sertain modifications in accordance with their needs.

11 SEEDS Workshop I Part II Survey on production, preservation and use of research data among researchers 1. Methodology Data set of 1159 researchers from public, private and NGO sector- total population of researchers 181 participants completed the survey 15% response rate

12 SEEDS Workshop I Survey participants

13 SEEDS Workshop I

14 SEEDS Workshop I Production of data

15 SEEDS Workshop I

16 SEEDS Workshop I

17 SEEDS Workshop I Archiving practices and preferences

ACCESS TO DATA Q16. Who may be granted access to the data from your last project for research use?

ACCESS TO DATA Q17. In your opinion, what would be the ideal level of access to this research data?

ACCESS TO DATA Q18. If you knew that your data would be preserved for the long-term in a secure environment, and shared only with accredited researchers, would you be willing to provide your data to a social science data archive?

ACCESS TO DATA Q19. With respect to your own discipline, how important is the sharing of research data?

ACCESS TO DATA Q20. Do you know if any other researcher outside your own team had used for secondary analysis any of the research data that you produced?

ACCESS TO DATA Q23. What are the barriers to conducting secondary analysis in your country? (Multiple answers)

24 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive Q27: Would your scientific work benefit if you had better access to research data produced in Macedonia? and Q28: Would your scientific work benefit if you had better access to international research data? N=181

25 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive Q29: In your opinion, what is the prevalent attitude with respect to sharing one's own research data among...? N=181

26 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive Out of 181 respondents in total, 79% (143) did not answer the question “What are the main reasons for which you are not willing to share your own research data with others?” (Q30). According to the remaining 21% (38) who answered, the main reasons are: possible abuse/misuse of the data, risk of manipulation, customer requirements for data confidentiality, and the risk of plagiarism. Access to research data would be useful for researchers who other than research work have also teaching responsibilities (Q31: Does your personal activity include teaching responsibilities?). A significant part of the respondents in the sample, 76.2% (138) are engaged in teaching.

27 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive Q32: In the context of your teaching, how often do you analyze or discuss research data? N=138

28 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive Q33: Which type of data do you use in your teaching? N=138

29 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive Q34: Would your teaching benefit if you had greater access to more national or international data? N=138

30 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive Q35: In your view, how useful could be an institution that specializes in data archiving in your country? N=181

31 SEEDS Workshop I Perceived benefits from data archive 91.7% of the respondents agree that access to research data produced in Macedonia and international research data will significantly improve their work. 60.8% are personally very willing to share their own research data. 21% of total, answered that the main reasons for which they are not willing to share their own research data with others are: possible abuse/misuse of the data, risk of manipulation, customer requirements for data confidentiality, and the risk of plagiarism. Access to research data would be useful for researchers who have teaching responsibilities. 90.6% use it on a regular basis or sometimes; majority of the surveyed researchers engaged in teaching (73.9%) responded that they use publicly available data and datasets; 80.5% believe that better access to data is considerably beneficial. Most of the respondents (85.6%) are of the opinion that establishing social science data archive in Macedonia would be exceptionally important.