Sharing & Archiving

Why Share Data?

Data sharing is the act of providing research data to others, and it constitutes a crucial aspect of open science. It involves providing access to datasets and their associated documentation and code (when applicable). This open exchange of data, documentation, and code allows others to use, study, and build upon the data to advance knowledge and promote transparency in research and decision-making processes.

Numerous funding agencies, publishers, and institutions have established policies mandating research data sharing. Sharing data serves as a means to enhance the reuse of data, promoting greater efficiency and collaboration in research endeavors. While websites, FTP, and email exchange can be used for sharing data informally, researchers should strongly consider using data repositories for sharing research data, as they offer numerous advantages in terms of data preservation, discoverability, security, and compliance with academic and funding requirements.

When writing your Data Management Plan or preparing data for sharing, researchers should opt for thoughtful and reliable approaches and refrain from ad hoc provision of data. This consideration helps uphold the research's credibility and transparency, enabling easier replication, collaboration, and scientific progress.

Funders are aware of potential limitations to make all data publicly available but expect researchers to explicitly acknowledge any anticipated restrictions followed by a compelling justification. Consider ethical issues when dealing with human subjects' data or sensitive data of any kind (e.g., endangered species or protected lands). If access and sharing restrictions apply to your data, address plans to anonymize the data and protect privacy and confidentiality while trying to maximize data sharing whenever possible. Data can be shared through methods such as depositing it in a data repository, supplementary to an academic paper or published in a data journal, or by providing it to individual researchers upon their request. Sharing upon request should be considered the last resort. Refrain from adding a general data availability statement to your DMP, reports, and communications. Be more precise about data provision methods. You may check Taylor and Francis's guide for writing more effective and compelling data availability statements. 

According to Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), open data:

• Accelerates the pace of discovery. When datasets are openly available, they can be easily accessed and used to create a fuller picture of a given area of inquiry, or analyzed by data mining software that can uncover connections not apparent to those who produced the original data.

• Grows the economy. Researchers estimate that $3.2 trillion in economic output could be added to global GDP through Open Data across all sectors, with scientific and scholarly data playing an important role.

• Helps ensure we don’t miss breakthroughs. There are a huge number of ways to use or analyze any given dataset. What seems like noise to one person could be an important discovery to someone else with a different perspective or analytical technique.

• Improves the integrity of the scientific and scholarly record. When the data that underlies findings is accessible, researchers can check each other’s work and ensure that conclusions are built upon a firm foundation.

• Is becoming recognized by many in the research community as an important part of the research enterprise of the 21^st century. From research funders like the US government to publishers, institutions involved in the research process are beginning to require that, at the very least, the data that underlies publications be made openly accessible.