Incentives needed to encourage data sharing

New types of incentives within the biomedical research community are necessary to improve sharing of large research datasets suggests a new report. The report from the EAGDA (the Expert Advisory Group of Data Access) indicates that although there has been considerable investment and support by funders to enable data access, the costs associated with this are not always fully anticipated or provisioned. In some disciplines, researchers do not have the skills or resources necessary to readily share data, and there is no adequate monitoring of the extent to which commitments to share data are realised in practice. “Providing access to high-quality datasets in a form in which they can be easily used by others is time-intensive, and costly for research teams,” said Professor Martin Bobrow, chair of EAGDA. “This is not yet adequately recognised and valued by all parts of the biomedical research community. There are tangible actions that research funders, the university sector and research leaders can take now to further improve the major change in research practice which they have initiated and supported over the past few years.” A widespread perception among researchers is that those who work to make their data available to others receive inadequate recognition in funding decisions, career advancement and the Research Excellence Framework. EAGDA suggest funders strengthen approaches for reviewing and funding data management and sharing plans submitted by researchers and tracking these post-award. It also recommends that researchers’ contributions should be explicitly recognised. “If we are serious about the value of being able to share research data, we must provide the incentives for researchers – including providing appropriate support and formal recognition,” said Nicola Perrin, Head of Policy at the Wellcome Trust. “We are committed to working in partnership with our fellow funders and our research communities to effect change in this area.” The report highlights the crucial need for stakeholders to recognise and support specialist data managers as part of research teams. It also calls for key data repositories to receive long-term funding and support to deliver user-friendly services. The EAGDA was established in 2012 by the Medical Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust. It provides strategic advice to its funders on emerging scientific, ethical and legal issues in relation to data access for cohort and longitudinal studies across genetics, epidemiology and social sciences. EADGA report