BISHOPS - Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities doi:10.34934/DVN/G1ZNSI Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA 2025-11-10 2 Johan Van der Eycken; Rolande Depoortere, 2025, "BISHOPS - Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities", https://doi.org/10.34934/DVN/G1ZNSI, Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA, V2 BISHOPS - Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities Project results of the BISHOPS project BISHOPS - Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities doi:10.34934/DVN/G1ZNSI Johan Van der Eycken Rolande Depoortere FSIRI/32/BI1 Social Sciences and Digital Humanities Archive – SODHA Admin, Dataverse Admin, Dataverse 2025-11-10 2025-11-10 Arts and Humanities Computer and Information Science Law Social Sciences research data Fundamental research is crucial for progress and innovation. However, researchers often face financial constraints, making it essential to maximize the use of existing resources and avoid duplicating efforts. One key strategy is to share research data, aligning with the growing movement toward open data—though this also brings challenges, such as the need for quality frameworks and researcher protection (e.g., intellectual property rights). To support this, the BISHOPS project (Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities Open Science) was launched. It complements the SODA project, which aims to create a data archive that meets the standards of the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA). The SODHA archive (www.sodha.be) allows social science research data to be preserved and reused. BISHOPS expands this infrastructure to better serve the humanities, ensuring that valuable and hard-to-collect data in these fields are not lost. Major research funders in Belgium—FWO, F.R.S.-FNRS, and BELSPO—support this initiative. For example, recent Brain 2.0 calls require the use of the SODHA/BISHOPS infrastructure. Objectives of the BISHOPS Project: Analyze the needs of future users. Study metadata standards across disciplines. Design an infrastructure tailored to those needs. Provide training and share best practices. Develop a sustainable business model for long-term operation. 2019 2024 2019 2024 Belgium Europe Norway <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a> (CC-BY). https://orfeo.belnet.be/handle/internal/14603 20191119_BISHOPS_presentation_survey_analyse_vdef.pptx This presentation provides an overview of the BISHOPS project (Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities Open Science) and its connection to the SODHA data infrastructure. It introduces the project objectives, the FAIR‑based data archiving approach, and the integration with national and European research data infrastructures. The slides also summarise the user needs analysis carried out in 2020 among the Belgian Federal Scientific Institutions (FSIs), including key findings on data management practices, metadata use, storage approaches, data reuse behaviour, and legal considerations. application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation 20200104_Enquête_Bishops_correctie_vdef.pdf This file contains the full bilingual (FR/NL) questionnaire used for the BISHOPS user needs assessment among the Belgian Federal Scientific Institutions (FSIs). The survey collects detailed information on research data management practices within the social sciences and humanities domain. Topics covered include data archiving, metadata standards, documentation habits, data sharing, reuse of existing datasets, software usage, storage infrastructure, and legal and ethical aspects. The questionnaire consists of 68 structured questions, including multiple-choice items, open fields, and conditional follow-ups. application/pdf 20200515_RAP_kruistabellen_SODHA_VPUB.xls This spreadsheet contains the cross‑tabulated analysis of the BISHOPS user needs survey, completed by respondents from multiple Belgian Federal Scientific Institutions (FSIs). The file compiles aggregated numerical results for each survey question, organised per institution and category. It provides quantitative insights into research data practices, including archiving behaviour, metadata familiarity, data reuse, storage approaches, software tools, and legal issues. application/vnd.ms-excel 20201013_presentatie_BISHOPS_SODA_KBR_vdef.pptx This presentation introduces the BISHOPS project (Belgian Infrastructure for Social Sciences and Humanities Open Science) and outlines the preparatory work leading to the user needs survey among the Belgian Federal Scientific Institutions (FSIs). It provides context on the emerging Belgian and European Open Science landscape, the motivation behind establishing a national data infrastructure for the humanities and social sciences, and the methodological foundations of the survey. The slides also explain the purpose, scope, and thematic structure of the questionnaire distributed to FSIs. application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation