German funder DFG warns data tracking “can fundamentally contradict academic freedom”
Germany’s largest public research funder has warned scientists to be on guard against possible misuse of their data by publishers that are increasingly shifting from being content providers to data services.
In a 20 May paper, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft warned that the data left by researchers when they access publishers’ websites could be tracked in ways that are detrimental to both them and the interests of science.