What Researchers Need Know About Data Sharing

Overall, there is not a lot of controversy over the subject and practice of data sharing. After all, how does mankind benefit in any way from keeping scientific research and evidence behind a lock and key? But, there are two sides to every story and the layered issues of data sharing are no exception. Sure, sharing data can happen at any time and it does not have any physical limit seen yet. So, there must be some reason why it occurs more in some fields and less in others. More importantly, there has to be something that can be done about it on more than one level.

As Time Marches On

The good news is that, for the most part, data sharing is happening at an increasing rate with regulation in fields like technology. In fact, particular institutions actually require that their databases be open for the sake of reproducing results. However, this does not stop a spilt from occurring within particular professions that still shy away from open data. This happens regularly even though there is hard evidence to support the practice of posting research results publicly. In part, this is due to the fact that communication technologies have advanced so quickly in a relatively scant amount of time and people are still figuring out what to do about it. To make the matter more complex, data and information are a form of international currency in modern times like never before.

On Case By Case Status

In the meantime of all the database sharing and researching going on, the issue of information citation is being raised. This is hard to assess let alone regulate. A somewhat troubling matter of fact is that a good amount of research findings, reference material, and findings stay unseen. A large part of this phenomenon is due to the fact that there are little if any legal or institutional guidelines that say otherwise. Basically, whether or not research results and findings find a way into the realm of open data largely depends on who or what organization funds it. Some of these establishments only require an outline for projects exceeding a preset dollar amount while others operate under stricter standards. In some cases, researchers must have a clear idea for what they intend to do with their findings before getting started. These plans may or may not have clauses to include what to do regarding content licensing, which is kind of a whole other ball of wax.

Where to go for Proper Storage

As a matter of fact, the lack of open data available to the public is largely based on the very lucrative and litigious concept of intellectual property. This may not be the biggest deal when it comes to institutions such as government and higher level education. In some fields such as the social sciences, open data is the bread and butter of all that they do. However, when it comes to industries like biopharmaceuticals telling the whole world what you just found is a pretty good way of missing out on life-changing deals. To make sure that research findings have some kind of intellectual property to them, a content license is needed. This means having systems in place to establish the archiving and trade of data under some form of a content license agreement. Venues like to serve as a hub of information to fill this very need.

One Page at a Time

Doing the right thing to progress the facilitation of open data while at the same time protecting the value of research findings is as simple as understanding and implementing content licensing. A good way of achieving that goal without distraction is to take a look into the services available on the RightsPlatform, which is something of a library for researching all kinds of information. Tons of information in the form of images, graphs, figures, charts, and tables await to be used for research enrichment purposes.