Rewarding Research Data Management

In the context of open science, good research data management (RDM), including data sharing and data reuse, has become a major goal of research policy. However, studies and monitors reveal that open science practices are not yet widely mainstream. Rewards and incentives have been suggested as a solution, to facilitate and accelerate the development of open and transparent RDM. Based on relevant literature, our paper provides a critical analysis of three main issues: what should be rewarded and incentivized, who should be rewarded, and what kind of rewards and incentives should be used? Concluding the analysis, we ask if it is really necessary and appropriate to consider RDM as an individual (behavioral) issue, as the main challenges are elsewhere, not personal, but technological, institutional and financial.