RDM - Share & Reuse: Data Sharing

Data Sharing involves the practice of making research data available to other researchers, institutions, or the public. Through data sharing, researchers can produce more substantial initial publication data by allowing peer review and validation of datasets and methods prior to publication. Open data also allows further research activities or scientific inquiries without the costs of new data creation. This process enhances transparency, reproducibility, and collaboration, allowing others to validate findings, build upon existing research, and avoid duplication of efforts.

Effective data sharing requires careful planning, including considerations for data privacy, ethical standards, and proper documentation. It often utilizes repositories or platforms that facilitate access while ensuring compliance with legal and institutional guidelines, ultimately advancing scientific knowledge.

Open Research Data

Open research data means those data that can be freely accessed, used, modified, and shared, provided that there is appropriate acknowledgement if required. However, not all research data can be open and need to be managed in order to maintain confidentiality, guard against unreasonable costs, protect individuals' privacy, respect consent terms, as well as manage security or other risks.

Key Considerations

What data do I share?

• The data that support your published findings, i.e., the raw data needed to recreate your findings (and accompanying code, if applicable)
• Datasets from projects as significant research outputs
• For sensitive data, consider sharing parts of it, such as questionnaires and metadata
• Estimate the potential costs by developing a Data Management Plan at an early stage

Why share my data?

• Ensuring long-term preservation and value - usually, a suitable data repository used for data sharing is safe and accessible in the long run
• Broadening your research impact - for secondary use by other researchers or used by non-academic contexts such as policy, media, or other innovative ways
• Increase the citations of articles - there is evidence indicating that articles that link to their accompanying datasets in a repository are more likely to be cited
• Showing academic vigour and integrity, supporting research reproducibility and research transparency
• Meeting funders' and journals' requirements

How to share my data?

• Ensure the datasets adhere to the FAIR principles
• Deposit your datasets in an appropriate data repository
• Include a Data Access Statement in your publication and cite your datasets in your publication's reference list

Data Access Statement

What should be included in a Data Access Statement?

• Where the data can be accessed (preferably a data repository)
• A persistent identifier, such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or a link to a permanent record for the dataset
• Details of any restrictions on accessing the data and justifiable explanations (e.g., for ethical, legal, or commercial reasons)

Where should I put data access statement in the publication?

Some journals provide a “data availability” or “data access” section for you to put such information. If no such section exists, you can place your statement in the acknowledgements section. Here are two examples of how Data access statement appears in the publication:

Source: Wang, Y., Hong, H., Wei, Z., Li, D., Yang, X., Zhu, J., Li, P., Wang, S., & Zhi, C. (2025). Cation-regulated MnO2 reduction reaction enabling long-term stable zinc-manganese flow batteries with high energy density. Energy and Environmental Science, 18(3), 1524-1532.https://doi.org/10.1039/d4ee03385j

Source: Zhu, S., Zhang, Y., Feng, J., Wang, Y., Zhai, K., Feng, H., Pun, E. Y. B., Zhu, N. H., & Wang, C. (2025). Integrated lithium niobate photonic millimetre-wave radar. Nature Photonics, 19(2), 204-211. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-024-01608-7

Statement Examples

  For enquiries, please contact the Library's Research Data Management Services of the Research Support and Scholarly Communication Section at lbrdms@cityu.edu.hk