Visualizing the landscape of legacy data curation through a systematic review of the literature

Stahlman, Gretchen Renee; Kouper, Inna; Das, Rajesh Kumar

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126231 Copy

Description

Title

Visualizing the landscape of legacy data curation through a systematic review of the literature

Author(s)

• Stahlman, Gretchen Renee
• Kouper, Inna
• Das, Rajesh Kumar

Issue Date

2025-03-11

Keyword(s)

• Data curation
• Legacy data
• Literature review

Abstract

Legacy data, which includes historical, older, and previously uncurated data sets, holds significant value for new scientific research and cross-disciplinary analyses. However, the curation and reuse of legacy data face numerous challenges, such as outdated formats, inadequate metadata, and the degradation of storage media. This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on legacy research data curation, focusing on the efforts to recover, manage, and repurpose data across different disciplines. A search of literature databases was conducted, resulting in 67 peer-reviewed papers published between 2009 and 2023. Preliminary results highlight the global nature of legacy data curation, with contributions from 50 countries, predominantly from the Environmental and Earth Sciences disciplines. A keyword cluster analysis reveals evolving themes, including consistent attention to "Scientific Research”, and increasing focus on "Human Aspects" and "Cultural Heritage" in recent years. Despite progress, barriers such as a lack of standardized practices, metadata issues, and technical challenges remain. The findings suggest the need for collaborative frameworks and policies to ensure the accessibility and reuse of legacy data, which will be further explored in future phases of this study.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2025 Proceedings

Type of Resource

Other

Genre of Resource

Conference Poster

Language

eng

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/126231

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2025 is held by Gretchen Renee Stahlman, Inna Kouper, and Rajesh Kumar Das. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the author.

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