RDM covers a wide range of subjects, with extensive information that requires practical implementation. Within KU Leuven, there are training sessions specifically designed to cultivate practical RDM skills. For researchers within the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, we recommend these upcoming training sessions to get yourself acquainted with RDM.

These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff

RDM Workshop for PhDs in Humanities and Social Sciences

Program

Research data management (RDM) refers to how you handle your data during and after your research project to ensure they are well organized, structured, of high quality and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). During this session you will learn best practices for the management of research data according to the FAIR data principles. We consider the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of research data, secure storage of materials, documentation and metadata, research data sharing, reusing data shared by others, and more. This solid grounding in basic RDM skills will help you make informed decisions on how to handle your research data. Additionally, you will learn how to write and maintain your own Data Management Plan (DMP). 

The training consists of two parts: 

• A short general introduction on Research Data Management  (20’ – 25’)  
• Followed by small interactive group sessions, where participants dicuss their Data Management Plan (DMP), under the guidance of an RDM expert.

Practicalities

• When: March 25, 2025 from 14:00 to 16:00
• Where: Online
• For who: This training is mainly aimed at doctoral researchers, preferably at the start of their PhD or project.
• Price and registration: Free but mandatory
• More info: Click here

Workshop Documentation & Metadata for Qualitative Research

Program

Documentation and metadata are essential to understand your data in detail, and help other researchers to find and use your data. It enables making your data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) and improves the reproducibility of your data. Documentation and metadata are therefore of crucial importance for good Research Data Management.

Through an introductive presentation, interactive exercises, polls and brainstorm sessions you will practice how to:

• Organise data files and folders
• Identify information in a dataset and within data files
• Search for a metadata standard
• Use metadata schemes
• Deposit a dataset in RDR

Practicalities

• When: April 24, 2025 from 13:00 to 16:00
• Where: University Library, Colloquium (Mgr. Ladeuzeplein 21, 3000 Leuven)
• For who: This workshop is intended for researchers in need of knowing the basics of documentation & metadata.
• Price and registration: Free but mandatory
• More info: Click here

“Data are the lifeblood of research and good research data management (RDM) leads to reliable results, increased visibility, and greater impact. In light of supporting researchers to implement high quality RDM practices, the symbolic doors to our RDM support at KU Leuven will be pushed wide open from the 25th to 29th of November to celebrate best practices, tools and collaboration during The RDM Open House. The Research Data Management Competence Centre of KU Leuven invites everyone to join for training sessions, workshops, and open discussions. Whether you’re an early career researcher, a seasoned academic, research support staff or a policymaker, our doors are wide open. No prior expertise needed – just curiosity and a desire to enhance your skills in the field of Research Data Management.

Programme

• Each day focuses on specific RDM topics, from sessions on the basic principles to a metadata tools fair, workshops on data protection or lectures on data sharing. You can pick and choose the days you would like to attend. There is no requirement to participate the full week.  For more information about the programme, visit the website. 
• Knowledge Hub Community Day (28/11): Co-organized with the FRDN and hosted by KU Leuven, this event unites data stewards, RDM support staff, and professionals interested in open and FAIR data.

Practicalities

• When: 25th to 29th of November 2024. You can pick and choose the days you would like to attend. There is no requirement to participate the full week.
• Where: Sessions take place in Leuven’s city center.  Some sessions will be organized both in-person and online for broader accessibility.
• Who: the RDM Open House opens its doors to everyone: from early career researchers and senior academic staff to research support personnel, students and policy makers, whether affiliated with KU Leuven or external institutions.
• Learn more about the event on the website. 
• Registration: Click here  and reserve your spot before November 11th to join us to celebrate open research data and it’s best practices!

RDM covers a wide range of subjects, with extensive information that requires practical implementation. Within KU Leuven there are training sessions specifically designed to cultivate practical RDM skills. For researchers within the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, we recommend these upcoming training sessions to get yourself aquinted with RDM.

These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff.

RDM Workshop for PhDs in Humanities and Social Sciences

Program

Research data management (RDM) refers to how you handle your data during and after your research project to ensure they are well organized, structured, of high quality and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). During this session you will learn best practices for the management of research data according to the FAIR data principles. We consider the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of research data, secure storage of materials, documentation and metadata, research data sharing, reusing data shared by others, and more. This solid grounding in basic RDM skills will help you make informed decisions on how to handle your research data. Additionally, you will learn how to write and maintain your own Data Management Plan (DMP). 

Practicalities

• When: 21 March 2024, 14h00 -16h00
• Where: Online
• For who: This training is mainly aimed at doctoral researchers, preferably at the start of their PhD or project. 
• Price and registration: free but registration is mandatory
• More info: Click here.

Workshop Documentation & Metadata in Humanities and Social Sciences

Program

In this workshop we will focus on documentation and metadata. Through an introductive presentation, interactive exercises, polls and brainstorms the participants will go over the following topics: Organising files and folders, identifying information within data files and in datasets, searching for a metadata standard, metadata schemes, depositing data in the institutional data repository RDR. 

Practicalities

• When: 18 April 2024, 13h00 -16h00
• Where: Physical event at AGORA, M00.E67 Collaborative Study Space
• For who: This workshop is intended for researchers in need of knowing the basics of documentation & metadata. 
• Price and registration: free but registration is mandatory
• More info: Click here.

*Please note, these materials were created based on version 6 of the Zotero software; the interface received a major update with version 7. While the interface looks different, Zotero 7 still has the same features as previous versions, however, some plug-ins may no longer be supported.

A few weeks ago we announced a new series that would help you get set up in Zotero, a free reference manager that enables you to collect, organize, cite and share research. As a follow-up to the first blogpost, we will take you through the next steps on how to collect and organize references in Zotero.

Collecting references

There are many ways to gather references in Zotero. We will explain the three main possibilities to do this in the desktop app.

1. The first possible way to add a reference is to enter it manually. This will probably feel familiar for those who are not used to working with a reference manager, but it can be more time-consuming than the other options. To add a reference manually, click on ‘New item’ () > choose the type of reference you want to add > manually fill in all the information in the right-hand pane. If you have a file on your computer, you can also add the reference via drag and drop to Zotero.
2. The easiest way to add a reference is via an identifier. Zotero can search for relevant information online via identifiers such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), or others. You can locate this information on the title page of an academic article or, for a book, on the back cover next to the barcode or on the page with the copyright information. Additionally, ISBN numbers are available on publishers’ websites or anywhere e-books are sold. Click on ‘add item(s) by identifier’()> type or paste the identifier > press enter. All the metadata is automatically added to the reference. This is a quicker and often more exhaustive way of adding a reference compared to adding it manually. A handy default feature is that Zotero automatically downloads any attachments it finds online. If an article is Open Access, Zotero will download the pdf. The blue dot next to the reference indicates there is a file attached. To open the file, click on the reference and the link will appear. If you prefer to save your PDF files in a different location, you can disable the automatic download feature in the general preferences menu.
3. The third way to add a reference to Zotero is by using the Zotero connector. Zotero can pull citation metadata about sources directly from web pages into the Zotero desktop app. If you have downloaded the Zotero connector, you should find the Zotero button in your browser (often in the top right corner). It should say ‘Save to Zotero’. Click on the icon and the reference will appear in your Library. This works with academic publications and other types of sources, including standalone PDFs, websites and social media. Zotero will also add the pdf or a web page snapshot to the reference as an attachment.

As you get more familiar with Zotero you will learn of more advanced ways to add references via structured data formats such as BibTex. Want to know how to do this? Keep an eye on our blog because there is a good chance a future blogpost will guide you through it!

Organizing references

All the references you collect will be saved in your Library. To keep your research structured and clear, Zotero offers multiple ways to organize your references.

1. The first is by creating Collections or folders. Click on ‘New collection () and give the collection a name. To view which collections a given reference is in, you can select the reference in the main viewing pane, then push the control key (Windows), the option key (Mac) or the alt key (Linux), and the relevant collections will be highlighted. Any references that have not been subdivided into a collection will appear in ‘Unfiled items’. Sometimes you might accidentally add the same reference to Zotero multiple times. If this happens, you will be able to locate these references in the tab called ‘Duplicate Items’. If you want, you can choose to merge your duplicates here. By managing duplicate items, you are able to ensure that the Zotero plug-in for Word will function properly and your bibliographies will be correctly formatted and accurate. Additionally, it prevents any confusion when using the note function for taking research notes.
2. Tags are a useful way to assign keywords to a reference and group them together. Select a reference > go to the ‘Tags’ tab on in the right pane > click ‘Add’. An item can have as many tags as necessary. Tags appear in de bottom left pane. If you click on a tag, you will see all the references connected with this tag. By default, tags will also be assigned when you import references into Zotero, but this feature can be disabled in the general preferences if you prefer working with your own customized tagging system. If you want to go one step further, you can also color-code your tags by right clicking on a tag in the tag pane in the bottom left and then selecting ‘Assign color’. The color you assign to a tag will show up to the left of the reference when viewing your references in the main panel. You can also see the color-coded tags when viewing the tags for a particular reference.
3. You can link different references together with the related references This can be used to indicate which references are cited by that item. Click on the reference > go to the tab ‘Related’ in the right pane > ‘Add’ > choose the reference you want to link with > click ‘ok’.
4. The ‘Notes’ feature allows you to add a text note as an attachment to a reference. Select the reference > go to the ‘Notes’ tab > Add > type out your note. Notes can also be added by right clicking the reference in the main viewing pane and selecting ‘add note’ or by clicking the note button () on the top center menu. If you use the note feature to take research notes, it is helpful to know that these research notes can be exported in PDF form. To do so, right click on the reference in the main viewing panel and select ‘Generate report from item’. This will give you an overview of the reference including the full reference information, the tags you have assigned (if any), and the notes you have taken that are connected to this item. This is not only an excellent feature if you prefer to work both digitally and in analog form, but also if you would like to take periodic back-ups of the research notes you have created in the Zotero platform.

Do you want to experiment with collecting and gathering references in Zotero? We have the perfect place for that! Visit our own Zotero group: the Artes Digital Scholarship Community! We have created a Sandbox folder for you to experiment to your heart’s content. This group is packed with information on digital scholarship, and we post regular updates on new resources. You are very welcome to join the community or browse through the information we have collected.

*Please note, these materials were created based on version 6 of the Zotero software; the interface received a major update with version 7. While the interface looks different, Zotero 7 still has the same features as previous versions, however, some plug-ins may no longer be supported.

Would you like to download information about your sources with the click of a button instead of painstakingly typing out bibliographic data? Would you like to automagically insert correct references into your publications in any citation style? Would you like to focus on writing your articles, chapters, books, and so on, and never, ever craft a references section by hand again?

As a reference manager Zotero can (and maybe even should) become one of your primary tools. Not only is it free, it’s also easy to use. Zotero helps you collect, organize, cite and share research. Since its creation in 2006, Zotero has become one of the most widely used citation management tools and is supported in more than thirty languages.

Never heard of it? No need to panic. We’re here to explain how you can set up Zotero yourself and dive into the wonderful world of reference management. This post is the first in a series that will help you to get to know the many options Zotero offers to support your research process and to better manage your research data.

Getting started

1. Register

Register for a free Zotero account here. This will allow you to sync and access your library from anywhere, back up all your attached files, and join groups like our own Artes Digital Scholarship Community.

2. Download

Zotero offers a web application as well as a desktop application. We advise you to use the desktop application as it provides more options than the web version. You can download the desktop application from the Zotero download page. Download the Zotero connector as well, as it automatically senses different types of content as you browse the web and allows you to save those resources, including relevant metadata, to Zotero with a single click.

3. Synchronize

After you complete the set-up, open the Zotero desktop application. Go to Edit > Preferences > Sync and enter your Zotero account details. You can choose which libraries you want to sync. By default, Zotero will sync your local data with the Zotero servers whenever changes are made. This will enable you to work with your data from any computer with Zotero installed.

4. Optional: Join a group

Within Zotero you can create or join groups. As a member or owner of a group you can collaborate remotely with project members or colleagues within related areas (publicly or privately), set up web-based bibliographies for classes you teach, and so much more.  It’s a great way to discover other people with similar interests and the sources they are citing. If you want to join a Zotero group, log in to the Zotero website, search for groups here or go to the group URL, and click on the ‘Join’ button. Depending on the group setup, you will be admitted automatically or after a group admin approves the request.

A great starting point is the Artes Digital Scholarship Community. This Zotero group  is packed with resources on digital scholarship for KU Leuven researchers, students, and staff, curated by the KU Leuven Libraries Artes research team.  When you join, you can add your own resources, see the content of attachments, and search this group right from your own Zotero desktop application. If you’re not a group member, you can still browse and search the content of the group.

As you can imagine, this post was just the tip of the iceberg on Zotero. Keep an eye on our blog for an upcoming post on how to gather and process references!

In the blog series “Researcher questions” the Artes Research team shares some common and/or pertinent questions that we get from researchers at the Faculty of Arts. The goal of the series is to share the advice that we give more broadly, as it might be helpful to others as well or make you consider something you had not thought about before.

“How will you apply metadata?” This question appears on every data management plan template. In workshops and resources like our research data management (RDM) guide, we talk about how using metadata to add structure to the content of research materials can improve the quality and potential of a project in countless often unexpected ways. Still, such brief and theoretical explanations don’t always make it clear what might be the point of using metadata to turn your specific research materials into structured data.

If this sounds like you, you may like to check out metadata-related pages from the user guides of the tools you would use to add metadata to your materials: reference managers, image management programs, online exhibition platforms, qualitative data analysis software, and so on. Such pages show directly how metadata application would work for you in practice, in accessible language and often with clear screenshots and recognizable examples from academic research.

Check out these examples:

KU Leuven’s very own interdisciplinary ReproducibiliTea journal club is looking for coordinators and participants who want to learn from each other about what it takes to do open research. Learn more about everything from open data to preprint publishing, preregistration, and handling personal data, like in the following example:

That’s one of the most interesting things about ReproducibiliTea Leuven for me: Every time, I learn something new. For example, about the multitude of different data types that people work with or about the diverse array of issues researchers from different disciplines must consider. In one of our meetings, a colleague from movement sciences explained that they worked a lot with video data, which comes with major privacy issues; when a participant’s arm is being filmed and the participant has a tattoo, that is identifiable data. Another researcher talked about how to handle sensitive interview data from bereaved parents, and it all made me realize how crucial it is that open science practices are flexible, so they can cater to an array of potential use cases.

The next ReproducibiliTea@KULeuven journal club will take place online on Thursday 17 June (15h00-16h30). Two papers related to open data will be discussed, you can find the papers on the OSF page and Zotero library of ReproducibiliTea. Both staff and students from KU Leuven are welcome to attend (register here). Upon registration, you will receive an e-mail with a link needed to enter the online meeting. More information can be found here (KU Leuven intranet page).

ReproducibiliTea is a grassroots journal club initiative aimed at discussing diverse issues, papers and ideas about improving science and research reproducibility. The ReproducibiliTea@KULeuven journal club is a space for interdisciplinary discussion about science in general, and more specifically about Open Science and Reproducibility. They welcome people from all backgrounds and disciplines, and hope to create an inclusive environment for friendly discussion.

DHSITE 2021 is taking place the weeks of May 17-21 and May 24-28. In this two-week period, they organize 18-hour micro-course workshops. Workshop topics include an Introduction to Python (in English and in French), Issues in Digital Humanities, Introduction to Linked Open Data, Text Analysis, and Machine Translation. The detailed program can be found on the event website.

Registration is open! Be sure to reserve your spot. Micro-course workshops with low pre-registration will be cancelled.

Additionally, part of DHSITE 2021, the University of Ottawa Library will deliver a two-day research data management workshop. Visit the “Making Research Data Public” website for a complete schedule and information about registration.

Are you interested in publishing your book in Open Access? Did you know that at KU Leuven we have a fund that partially covers the publication costs of OA books published by Leuven University Press? Well, now you know! The KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access welcomes proposals from everyone interested in publishing their book in OA with Leuven University Press. Authors affiliated with KU Leuven typically apply for a subsidy amounting to two-thirds of the OA costs charged by LUP; authors who are not affiliated with KU Leuven can apply for a subsidy up to one-third of the costs. The video below explains every step in the application process. The website also contains detailed information about the procedure.

You can find an overview of all the books published with the support of the fund here, with readership data for every book. We thought carefully about how we wished to display this data and, as is evidenced in another blog post, this is not just one simple number of total online readers. While I recognize that readership data comes with various concerns and difficulties, I nevertheless do think it’s valuable to communicate this data in order to provide both authors and interested users with a transparent and nuanced record of readership information. Moreover, these metrics underline the added value of publishing in Open Access venues, as the numbers clearly show the high impact and wide reach of the publications. Continue reading about readership data.

Whereas academic journals that offer Gold OA options have become widespread in the last decade, the transition to Open Access for academic books is lagging behind, despite the fact that monographs are still the leading publishing format in the Humanities and Social Sciences. In order to boost the publication of OA books, KU Leuven Libraries reserved a substantial part of the KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access, established in 2018, to help finance OA books published by Leuven University Press (LUP).

We are happy to see that the Fair OA Book Fund is a great success, not only in the amount of books we are able to help publish, but also in terms of the reach of these books which is demonstrated by the readership data that we now share online for each OA book published with the support of the Fund.

Continue reading at The Digital Humanities Commons blog:  What’s in a number? A closer look at Open Access readership data, Part One What’s in a number? A closer look at Open Access readership data, Part Two

The Parthenos Standardization Survival Kit shows how researchers can use a range of tools, methods, and data standards to create a standardized research workflow, depending on their discipline, chosen approach, specific research materials, and so on. What sort of workflow is good for creating 3D reconstructions in archaeology? Or interoperable TEI text resources? What specific tools are other researchers using for data gathering, annotation, or publishing? How are they working with images, texts, or artifacts?

In short, this is great tool to explore concrete ways to make a research project better with standards. You can also add your own workflows.