The road to success: drawing parallels between 'road' and 'research data' infrastructures to foster understanding between service providers, funders and policymakers.

Background: The work of data research infrastructure operators is poorly understood, yet the services they provide are used by millions of scientists across the planet. Policy and implications: As the data services and the underlying infrastructure are typically funded through the public purse, it is essential that policymakers, research funders, experts reviewing funding proposals, and possibly even end-users are equipped with a good understanding of the daily tasks of service providers. Recommendations: We suggest drawing parallels between research data infrastructure and road infrastructure. To trigger the imagination and foster understanding, this policy brief contains a table of corresponding aspects of the two classes of infrastructure. Conclusions: Just as economists and specialist evaluators are typically brought in to inform policies and funding decisions for road infrastructure, we encourage this to also be done for research infrastructures.