A Country-level Case Study:

On the Evolution of UK Institutional Research Data Services

Abstract

This paper examines milestones and unique service aspects of six research-intensive Higher Education Institutions’ approaches to research data management policy and service, almost one decade on from their respective beginnings, based on findings from a 2024 internal benchmarking study conducted by the University of Oxford, which consisted of interviews with library-based research data management service providers at five peer UK institutions. Both similarities and differences are examined, and milestones are mapped against external events and policies in the RDM field. Future directions, and areas of convergence and divergence especially, will be explored across six institutions: the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Manchester and Oxford, Imperial College London, and University College London (UCL).