---
title: "Data sharing"
chunk: 2/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_sharing"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:48:58.925081+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

The idea is: An article about computational science in a scientific publication is not the scholarship itself, it is merely advertising of the scholarship. The actual scholarship is the complete software development environment and the complete set of instructions which generated the figures.
The Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) and Data Conservancy are projects supported by the National Science Foundation to encourage and facilitate data sharing among research scientists and better support meta-analysis. In environmental sciences, the research community is recognizing that major scientific advances involving integration of knowledge in and across fields will require that researchers overcome not only the technological barriers to data sharing but also the historically entrenched institutional and sociological barriers.  Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging has stated, "the old model in which researchers jealously guarded their data is no longer applicable".
The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a group of organizations that support open access to government sponsored research. The group has expressed a "Statement of Principles" explaining why they believe open access is important. They also list a number of international public access policies.  This is no more so than in timely communication of essential information to effectively respond to health emergencies. While public domain archives have been embraced for depositing data, mainly post formal publication, they have failed to encourage rapid data sharing during health emergencies, among them the Ebola and Zika, outbreaks. More clearly defined principles are required to recognize the interests of those generating the data while permitting free, unencumbered access to and use of the data (pre-publication) for research and practical application, such as those adopted by the GISAID Initiative to counter emergent threats from influenza.

== International policies ==
Australia
Austria
Europe — Commission of European Communities
Germany
United Kingdom
'Omic Data Sharing — a list of policies of major science funders FAIRsharing.org Catalogue of Data Policies
India -National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy – Government of India

== Data sharing problems in academia ==

=== Genetics ===
Withholding of data has become so commonplace in genetics that researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital published a journal article on the subject. The study found that "Because they were denied access to data, 28% of geneticists reported that they had been unable to confirm published research."

=== Psychology ===
In a 2006 study, it was observed that, of 141 authors of a publication from the American Psychological Association (APA) empirical articles, 103 (73%) did not respond with their data over a 6-month period. In a follow-up study published in 2015, it was found that 246 out of 394 contacted authors of papers in APA journals did not share their data upon request (62%).

=== Archaeology ===
A 2018 study reported on study of a random sample of 48 articles published during February–May 2017 in the Journal of Archaeological Science which found openly available raw data for 18 papers (53%), with compositional and dating data being the most frequently shared types. The same study also emailed authors of articles on experiments with stone artifacts that were published during 2009 and 2015 to request data relating to the publications. They contacted the authors of 23 articles and received 15 replies, resulting in a 70% response rate. They received five responses that included data files, giving an overall sharing rate of 20%.

=== Scientists in training ===
A study of scientists in training indicated many had already experienced data withholding. This study has given rise to the fear the future generation of scientists will not abide by the established practices.

== Differing approaches in different fields ==
Requirements for the sharing of data are more frequently mandated within the medical and biological sciences than within the physical sciences. These requirements differ considerably in terms of whether data must be shared at all, the parties with whom data must be shared, and the responsibility for covering the costs associated with sharing.
Funding bodies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation generally impose stronger expectations for data sharing. However, even these policies acknowledge important considerations, including the protection of patient confidentiality, the financial burden of data dissemination, and the legitimacy of the request for access. Private interests and public agencies with national security interests (defense and law enforcement) often discourage sharing of data and methods through non-disclosure agreements.
Data sharing poses specific challenges in participatory monitoring initiatives, for example where forest communities collect data on local social and environmental conditions. In this case, a rights-based approach to the development of data-sharing protocols can be based on principles of free, prior and informed consent, and prioritise the protection of the rights of those who generated the data, and/or those potentially affected by data-sharing.

== See also ==
Data archive
Data dissemination
Data privacy
Data publishing
Data citation
FAIR data
File sharing
Information sharing
Knowledge sharing
Open data
Registry of Research Data Repositories

== References ==

== Literature ==

Committee on Issues in the Transborder Flow of Scientific Data, National Research Council (1997). Bits of Power: Issues in Global Access to Scientific Data. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. doi:10.17226/5504. ISBN 978-0-309-05635-9. — discusses the international exchange of data in the natural sciences.

== External links ==
"The Selfish Gene Archived 2008-08-05 at the Wayback Machine: Data Sharing and Withholding in Academic Genetics" by Eric Campbell and David Blumenthal published May 31, 2002.
Data sharing and data archiving ― American Psychological Association
The Public Domain of Digital Research Data