Journal Article: “Data Sharing Practices and Data Availability Upon Request Differ Across Scientific Disciplines”

The following article was published today by Scientific Data.

Title

Data Sharing Practices and Data Availability Upon Request Differ Across Scientific Disciplines

Authors

Leho Tedersoo
Estonian Young Academy of Sciences

Rainer Küngas
Ester Oras
Kajar Köster
Helen Eenmaa
Äli Leijen
Margus Pedaste
Marju Raju
Anastasiya Astapova
Heli Lukner
Karin Kogermann
Tuul Sepp

Source

Scientific Data
Volume 8, Article number: 192 (2021)
DOI:10.1038/s41597-021-00981-0

Abstract

 Data sharing is one of the cornerstones of modern science that enables large-scale analyses and reproducibility. We evaluated data availability in research articles across nine disciplines in Nature and Science magazines and recorded corresponding authors’ concerns, requests and reasons for declining data sharing.

Although data sharing has improved in the last decade and particularly in recent years, data availability and willingness to share data still differ greatly among disciplines. We observed that statements of data availability upon (reasonable) request are inefficient and should not be allowed by journals. To improve data sharing at the time of manuscript acceptance, researchers should be better motivated to release their data with real benefits such as recognition, or bonus points in grant and job applications. We recommend that data management costs should be covered by funding agencies; publicly available research data ought to be included in the evaluation of applications; and surveillance of data sharing should be enforced by both academic publishers and funders. These cross-discipline survey data are available from the plutoF repository.

Direct to Full Text Article

Direct to PDF Version (11 pages)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Data Files, Funding, Management and Leadership, News, Open Access