HARNESSING BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY FOR TRANSPARENT AND SECURE MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH DATA IN LARGE-SCALE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION PROJECTS
Indonesia 
Singapore 
China 
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Blockchain Technology, Research Data Management, Smart Contracts
Abstract
Growing reliance on large-scale international scientific collaboration has intensified the need for transparent, secure, and trustworthy research data management to support cross-border data sharing, scientific reproducibility, and institutional accountability. Conventional centralized repositories often face challenges related to data integrity, provenance tracking, interoperability, cybersecurity, and governance consistency. This study evaluated the effectiveness of blockchain technology in strengthening research data management through decentralized governance, immutable provenance, and cryptographic verification. A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design was employed using 3,000 blockchain implementation scenarios across sixty international scientific collaboration projects involving universities, multidisciplinary research institutions, and public research organizations. Quantitative analyses included multivariate statistics, structural equation modeling, hierarchical regression, mediation, and moderation analyses, while qualitative evidence from expert interviews, governance workshops, and institutional document reviews was examined using thematic analysis. The findings demonstrated that consortium and permissioned blockchain architectures consistently outperformed conventional centralized systems by improving research data integrity, provenance accuracy, governance accountability, cybersecurity resilience, interoperability, and collaborative efficiency. Smart contracts and decentralized identity management further enhanced regulatory compliance, automated access control, and scientific reproducibility. Overall, blockchain technology functions as a decentralized governance architecture that integrates technological security with institutional trust, providing a practical framework for universities, research organizations, funding agencies, and policymakers to establish resilient, transparent, accountable, and sustainable global research data governance.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Faiz Muqorrir Kaaffah, Rachel Chan, Li Wei
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