Research Data Management: Sharing Data

Consider the ethical issues : For research that involves human subjects and sensitive data, it is true that researchers may not always be able to share their research data publicly due to risk of violating privacy. However, even highly sensitive information might be shared with the right steps:

• Inform the research participants and let them know exactly how their data will be used and shared
• Ask for informed consent to share the data 
• Protect identities by fully anonymizing the data
• Apply access control to the data

Plan to share with a Data Management Plan (DMP) : Prepare a DMP right at the beginning of a research project which includes details about data collection, preservation and sharing.

Choose a repository for your data : A data repository is an online platform for researchers to deposit data associated with their works. The Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3data.org) can help researchers identify a data repository that best fits their needs.

Share data with adequate information : Describe research data with rich metadata - e.g. the date it was created, file type and format, creator of the data, keywords, location, etc., which facilitates others to comprehend and reuse the data.

Share data with data sharing agreements and licenses : With rights and permissions in written format, it provides ways for researchers to safely share their research data and maximise data reuse.

Write a data availability statement : Some journals encourage or require the provision of data availability statements. When required, authors should provide a data availability statement linking to shared data, materials, and/or code—or specifying their ethical or legal reasons for not sharing their data.

Link research data to its relevant articles : Connecting journal articles to their associated data (and vice versa) can increase the discoverability and impact of the research.