[Insight-users] OPEN ACCESS: Data publication: towards a database of everything

[Luis Ibanez]

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/2/113

Vincent S Smith email
Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK


Abstract

The fabric of science is changing, driven by a revolution in digital
technologies that facilitate the acquisition and communication of
massive amounts of data. This is changing the nature of collaboration
and expanding opportunities to participate in science. If digital
technologies are the engine of this revolution, digital data are its
fuel. But for many scientific disciplines, this fuel is in short
supply. The publication of primary data is not a universal or
mandatory part of science, and despite policies and proclamations to
the contrary, calls to make data publicly available have largely gone
unheeded. In this short essay I consider why, and explore some of the
challenges that lie ahead, as we work toward a database of everything.

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Discussion

Journal articles as immutable, citable, archives of knowledge, have
been, and continue to be, the mainstay of scholarly communication.
Viewed by many scientists as the end product of their engagement in a
piece of research, the "article" contains an argument or statement
about an hypothesis, backed up by supporting data. However, as new
technologies drive research toward larger and more complex datasets,
these two features of the journal article are becoming increasingly
disarticulated [1]. In some scientific disciplines – for example
crystallography, astronomy and molecular biology – digital
repositories have become important avenues for "publishing" data. This
approach has found common cause with social and political forces that
are arguing for greater accountability and transparency of science.
The Open Science movement for the free use (and re-use) of data,
results and protocols, is championed by many as the best way to
improve the collective societal return on our investment in scientific
research [2]. Data publication is widely recognised as being central
to delivering this. But in truth, outside a handful of disciplines,
publication of science data is the exception, not the rule.

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Make it citable – motivating data publication through peer recognition

A primary motivation for article publication is to demonstrate the
authors' contribution to science [8]. This attracts peer recognition
that influences the authors' reputation, employment and research
opportunities. Article citation is the most common metric of peer
recognition and if a comparable metric could be brought to bear on
data publication, it follows that value and impact of data publication
could be similarly tracked to motivate authors.

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http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/2/113


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