This study conceptualizes research data management (RDM) in Japan as a “pre-institutional” field in which practice, rather than established systems, guides institutional formation. Drawing on tacit knowledge, experiential learning, legitimate peripheral participation, and the scientific field, it positions research support work as an intellectual practice mediating between researchers and institutional structures. Through analysis of Japan’s historical support context, the University of Vienna’s Data Steward Certificate Course, and the practical implementation efforts at The University of Osaka, the study shows how institutional understanding emerges through iterative practice. It proposes the intermediate qualification “Data Steward (provisional)” as a framework to formalize emerging expertise and support future professionalization in Japan.
甲斐 et al. (Mon,) studied this question.