6.5 Questions 7.1 Introduction and learning objectives
Why is it important to share and publish data? Let’s have a look at this video from GBIF (2022).
In addition to (text) publication in scientific journals, the data on which publications are based are also increasingly in demand. Many research funders and journals now require explicit data publication. This can provide additional quality assurance and, if other researchers work with your data, you gain reputation through citations.
There are basically three ways of publishing research data:
- As an independent publication in a repository (= long-term storage and publication location for data) - preferred choice
- As an article in a data journal
- These are (usually) peer-reviewed papers that present and describe datasets with a high value for reuse in more detail
- The data itself is usually published in a research data repository.
- As a supplement to a scientific article (= data supplement) - not the best option
Sharing of data means publishing it and making it accessible for the research community as a whole. Publishing data does not mean making it available for everybody. There are different licences or restrictions, and you can decide to which extent you want to publish your data [1]. For example, under some circumstances, data may be kept back and are embargoed for a defined amount of time until primary publications are published. The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity advises making data “as open as possible, as closed as necessary” [2].
When a paper is published, it is also a good time to publish the associated data. However, data should be published throughout the whole data life cycle [3], almost independent of a scholarly publication.
Sharing data for reproducing results is essential to science and practice. However, only by publishing data becomes FAIR. Some funders or institutions already have a data sharing commitment (data policy) that is usually impossible to avoid unless there are legitimate reasons [4].
To publish your data, make sure you have the rights for it, keep all ethical, legal or intellectual property restrictions in mind, check the requirements of your funder or institution, use persistent identifiers, so that the data is citable and consider applying for a specific licence[5][6].
After completing this chapter, you will be able to…
- …decide if you can publish your data and which permits you might still need
- …know relevant legal frameworks
- …decide what to do with sensitive data
- …choose a licence for your publication
[1] ELIXIR converge. (2023d). Data Life Cycle - Sharing. RDMkit. Available at: https://rdmkit.elixir-europe.org/sharing. Last accessed 2 October 2023.
[2] ALLEA. (2017). The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. allea All European Academies. Available at: https://www.allea.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ALLEA-European-Code-of-Conduct-for-Research-Integrity-2017.pdf. Last accessed 30 October 2023.
[3] ELIXIR converge. (2023d). Data Life Cycle - Sharing. RDMkit. Available at: https://rdmkit.elixir-europe.org/sharing. Last accessed 2 October 2023.
[4] ELIXIR converge. (2023d). Data Life Cycle - Sharing. RDMkit. Available at: https://rdmkit.elixir-europe.org/sharing. Last accessed 2 October 2023.
[5] ELIXIR converge. (2023d). Data Life Cycle - Sharing. RDMkit. Available at: https://rdmkit.elixir-europe.org/sharing. Last accessed 2 October 2023.
[6] GFBio. (2023f). GFBio Training Materials: Data Life Cycle Fact-Sheet: Data Life Cycle: Publish. GFBio. Available at: https://www.gfbio.org/training/material/data-life-cycle/publish/. Last accessed 27 November 2023.