Category Archives: oa.policies.journals.data

When open data closes the door: A critical examination of the past, present and the potential future for open data guidelines in journals – Prosser – British Journal of Social Psychology – Wiley Online Library

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Abstract:  Opening data promises to improve research rigour and democratize knowledge production. But it also presents practical, theoretical, and ethical considerations for qualitative researchers in particular. Discussion about open data in qualitative social psychology predates the replication crisis. However, the nuances of this ongoing discussion have not been translated into current journal guidelines on open data. In this article, we summarize ongoing debates about open data from qualitative perspectives, and through a content analysis of 261 journals we establish the state of current journal policies for open data in the domain of social psychology. We critically discuss how current common expectations for open data may not be adequate for establishing qualitative rigour, can introduce ethical challenges, and may place those who wish to use qualitative approaches at a disadvantage in peer review and publication processes. We advise that future open data guidelines should aim to reflect the nuance of arguments surrounding data sharing in qualitative research, and move away from a universal “one-size-fits-all” approach to data sharing. This article outlines the past, present, and the potential future of open data guidelines in social-psychological journals. We conclude by offering recommendations for how journals might more inclusively consider the use of open data in qualitative methods, whilst recognizing and allowing space for the diverse perspectives, needs, and contexts of all forms of social-psychological research.

 

Long-term availability of data associated with articles in PLOS ONE | PLOS ONE

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Abstract:  The adoption of journal policies requiring authors to include a Data Availability Statement has helped to increase the availability of research data associated with research articles. However, having a Data Availability Statement is not a guarantee that readers will be able to locate the data; even if provided with an identifier like a uniform resource locator (URL) or a digital object identifier (DOI), the data may become unavailable due to link rot and content drift. To explore the long-term availability of resources including data, code, and other digital research objects associated with papers, this study extracted 8,503 URLs and DOIs from a corpus of nearly 50,000 Data Availability Statements from papers published in PLOS ONE between 2014 and 2016. These URLs and DOIs were used to attempt to retrieve the data through both automated and manual means. Overall, 80% of the resources could be retrieved automatically, compared to much lower retrieval rates of 10–40% found in previous papers that relied on contacting authors to locate data. Because a URL or DOI might be valid but still not point to the resource, a subset of 350 URLs and 350 DOIs were manually tested, with 78% and 98% of resources, respectively, successfully retrieved. Having a DOI and being shared in a repository were both positively associated with availability. Although resources associated with older papers were slightly less likely to be available, this difference was not statistically significant, suggesting that URLs and DOIs may be an effective means for accessing data over time. These findings point to the value of including URLs and DOIs in Data Availability Statements to ensure access to data on a long-term basis.

 

 

Embracing the value of research data: introducing the JCHLA/JABSC Data Sharing Policy | Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Journal de l’Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada

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Abstract:  As health sciences researchers have been asked to share their data more frequently due to funder policies, journal requirements, or interest from their peers, health sciences librarians (HSLs) have simultaneously begun to provide support to researchers in this space through training, participating in RDM efforts on research grants, and developing comprehensive data services programs. If supporting researchers’ data sharing efforts is a worthwhile investment for HSLs, it is crucial that we practice data sharing in our own research endeavours. sharing data is a positive step in the right direction, as it can increase the transparency, reliability, and reusability of HSL-related research outputs. Furthermore, having the ability to identify and connect with researchers in relation to the challenges associated with data sharing can help HSLs empathize with their communities and gain new perspectives on improving support in this area. To that end, the Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association / Journal de l’Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada (JCHLA / JABSC) has developed a Data Sharing Policy to improve the transparency and reusability of research data underlying the results of its publications. This paper will describe the approach taken to inform and develop this policy. 

 

Facts and Figures for open research data

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“Figures and case studies related to accessing and reusing the data produced in the course of scientific production.”

Many researchers say they’ll share data — but don’t

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“Most biomedical and health researchers who declare their willingness to share the data behind journal articles do not respond to access requests or hand over the data when asked, a study reports1. …

But of the 1,792 manuscripts for which the authors stated they were willing to share their data, more than 90% of corresponding authors either declined or did not respond to requests for raw data (see ‘Data-sharing behaviour’). Only 14%, or 254, of the contacted authors responded to e-mail requests for data, and a mere 6.7%, or 120 authors, actually handed over the data in a usable format. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology on 29 May….

Puljak’s results square with those of a study that Danchev led, which found low rates of data sharing by authors of papers in leading medical journals that stipulate all clinical trials must share data2. …

Past research suggests that some fields, such as ecology, embrace data sharing more than others. But multiple analyses of COVID-19 clinical trials — including some from Li4,5 and Tan6 — have reported that anywhere from around half to 80% of investigators are unwilling or not planning to share data freely….

To encourage researchers to prepare their data, Li says, journals could make data-sharing statements more prescriptive. They could require authors to detail where they will share raw data, who will be able to access it, when and how.

 

Funders could also raise the bar for data sharing. The US National Institutes of Health, in an effort to curb wasteful, irreproducible research, will soon mandate that grant applicants include a data-management and sharing plan in their applications. Eventually, they will be required to share data publicly….”

Data Sharing and Reanalyses Among Randomized Clinical Trials Published in Surgical Journals Before and After Adoption of a Data Availability and Reproducibility Policy | Medical Journals and Publishing | JAMA Network Open | JAMA Network

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Abstract:  Importance  Clinical trial data sharing holds promise for maximizing the value of clinical research. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) adopted a policy promoting data sharing in July 2018.

Objective  To evaluate the association of the ICMJE data sharing policy with data availability and reproducibility of main conclusions among leading surgical journals.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This cross-sectional study, conducted in October 2021, examined randomized clinical trials (RCTs) in 10 leading surgical journals before and after the implementation of the ICMJE data sharing policy in July 2018.

Exposure  Implementation of the ICMJE data sharing policy.

Main Outcomes and Measures  To demonstrate a pre-post increase in data availability from 5% to 25% (??=?.05; ??=?0.1), 65 RCTs published before and 65 RCTs published after the policy was issued were included, and their data were requested. The primary outcome was data availability (ie, the receipt of sufficient data to enable reanalysis of the primary outcome). When data sharing was available, the primary outcomes reported in the journal articles were reanalyzed to explore reproducibility. The reproducibility features of these studies were detailed.

Results  Data were available for 2 of 65 RCTs (3.1%) published before the ICMJE policy and for 2 of 65 RCTs (3.1%) published after the policy was issued (odds ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.07-14.19; P?>?.99). A data sharing statement was observed in 11 of 65 RCTs (16.9%) published after the policy vs none before the policy (risk ratio, 2.20; 95% CI, 1.81-2.68; P = .001). Data obtained for reanalysis (n?=?4) were not from RCTs published with a data sharing statement. Of the 4 RCTs with available data, all of them had primary outcomes that were fully reproduced. However, discrepancies or inaccuracies that were not associated with study conclusions were identified in 3 RCTs. These concerned the number of patients included in 1 RCT, the management of missing values in another RCT, and discrepant timing for the principal outcome declared in the study registration and reported in the third RCT.

Conclusions and Relevance  This cross-sectional study suggests that data sharing practices are rare in surgical journals despite the ICMJE policy and that most RCTs published in these journals lack transparency. The results of these studies may not be reproducible by external researchers.

Many researchers were not compliant with their published data sharing statement: mixed-methods study – Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

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Abstract:  Objectives

To analyse researchers’ compliance with their Data Availability Statement (DAS) from manuscripts published in open access journals with the mandatory DAS.

 

Study Design and Setting

We analyzed all articles from 333 open-access journals published during January 2019 by BioMed Central. We categorized types of DAS. We surveyed corresponding authors who wrote in DAS that they would share the data. A consent to participate in the study was sought for all included manuscripts. After accessing raw data sets, we checked whether data were available in a way that enabled re-analysis.

 

Results

Of 3556 analyzed articles, 3416 contained DAS. The most frequent DAS category (42%) indicated that the datasets are available on reasonable request. Among 1792 manuscripts in which DAS indicated that authors are willing to share their data, 1670 (93%) authors either did not respond or declined to share their data with us. Among 254 (14%) of 1792 authors who responded to our query for data sharing, only 122 (6.8%) provided the requested data.

 

Conclusion

Even when authors indicate in their manuscript that they will share data upon request, the compliance rate is the same as for authors who do not provide DAS, suggesting that DAS may not be sufficient to ensure data sharing.

Open science practices in general and internal medicine journals, an observational study | PLOS ONE

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As part of the Open Science movement, this study aims to analyze the current state of open access and open data policies concerning the availability of articles and raw data of the journals belonging to the category “Medicine, General & Internal” of the Science Citation Index Expanded.

Investigating the Effectiveness of the Open Data Badge Policy at Psychological Science Through Computational Reproducibility

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Abstract:  In April 2019, Psychological Science published its first issue in which all research articles received the Open Data badge. We used that issue to investigate the effectiveness of this badge, focusing on the adherence to its stated aim at Psychological Science: ensuring reproducibility of results. Twelve researchers of varying experience levels attempted to reproduce the results of the empirical articles in the target issue (at least three researchers per article). We found that all articles provided at least some data, 6/14 articles provided analysis code or scripts, only 1/14 articles was rated to be exactly reproducible, and 3/14 essentially reproducible with minor deviations. We recommend that Psychological Science require a check of reproducibility at the peer review stage before awarding badges, and that the Open Data badge be renamed “Open Data and Code” to avoid confusion and encourage researchers to adhere to this higher standard.

 

Which solutions best support sharing and reuse of code? – The Official PLOS Blog

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“PLOS has released a preprint and supporting data on research conducted to understand the needs and habits of researchers in relation to code sharing and reuse as well as to gather feedback on prototype code notebooks and help determine strategies that publishers could use to increase code sharing.

Our previous research led us to implement a mandatory code sharing policy at PLOS Computational Biology in March 2021 to increase the amount of code shared alongside published articles. As well as exploring policy to support code sharing, we have also been collaborating with NeuroLibre, an initiative of the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform, to learn more about the potential role of technological solutions for enhancing code sharing. Neurolibre is one of a growing number of interactive or executable technologies for sharing and publishing research, some of which have become integrated with publishers’ workflows….”

Open Data – PLOS

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“Publishing in a PLOS journal carries with it a commitment to make the data underlying the conclusions in your research article publicly available upon publication.

Our data policy underscores the rigor of the research we publish, and gives readers a fuller understanding of each study….”

A year of open access

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“It’s been just over a year since the journals published by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology became fully open access. We asked the editors of the ASBMB’s journals how the transition has gone and what they’re planning for the future. Here’s what they told us….

To achieve gold open access, we partnered with commercial publisher Elsevier; however, it is important to recognize that JBC remains, at its core, a journal “for scientists, run by scientists.” Full editorial control of all manuscripts remains with the editors at JBC. In addition, JBC is one of the few journals that performs data-integrity analysis on the papers it publishes.

But what does the future hold? The implementation of open access raises an equally important aspect of science publishing in 2021 and beyond: open science….”

Trust, scholarship and data sharing – Thistlethwaite – 2022 – The Clinical Teacher – Wiley Online Library

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“For some journals, publishers and editors require that all raw data are deposited on submission, for example into a public repository. However, what should an editor do with these? Most editors are part-time with other academic or clinical responsibilities, as at The Clinical Teacher, and do not have the capacity to scrutinise all data and analyse them again. Consider the amount of text arising from a qualitative study and the time it takes for the team of researchers to analyse, interpret and synthesise these data. In addition, I could not be sure that all collected data have been deposited. In a scholarly system reliant on altruism as well as trust, I would not expect unremunerated reviewers to put in long hours to check that research data can be trusted. Some journals do employ statisticians to comment specifically on statistical tests and results….”

Implementing an Open & FAIR data sharing policy—A case study in the earth and environmental sciences – Cannon – 2022 – Learned Publishing – Wiley Online Library

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Abstract:  This paper outlines the impact of the introduction of an Open & FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data sharing policy on six earth and environmental science journals published by Taylor & Francis, beginning in November 2019. Notably, 18 months after implementing this new policy, we observed minimal impacts on submission, acceptance rates, or peer-review times for the participating journals. This paper describes the changes that were required to internal systems and processes in order to implement the new policy, and compares our findings with recent literature reports on the impact of journals introducing data-sharing policies.

Full article: Open science and sharing personal data widely – legally impossible for Europeans?

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“A requirement for having a research paper published in many medical journals is that the authors include a data sharing statement. Although the requirement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors is not very strict, simply requiring a statement [1], interpretation varies. Some journals essentially require that data must be readily available for other researchers for the paper to be accepted.

While most of us eagerly welcome open science and reuse of data to ensure reproducible science, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides strong protection of privacy and rather restricts and counteracts open sharing of personal data [2]. Some editors will accept that data are not readily sharable with others than peer reviewers for legal reasons. However, editors of non-European journals will often object to a GDPR-compatible data sharing statement and, consequently and often at the last minute, reject the research paper.

Why is this an issue? How difficult is it for European researchers to share data with researchers in other parts of the world?”