Regardless of the field of study, sharing data is one of the most fundamental aspects of maintaining the integrity of research. The availability of research data plays a vital role in ensuring reproducibility and the ongoing development of Open Science (also known as Open Scholarship or Open Research).
There is thus an increasing need to ensure the availability, discoverability and re-usability of research data for all stakeholders working across scholarly communications.
Publishers play a vital role in sharing data through facilitating and encouraging the sharing, linking and citing to research data alongside publications. They are doing this through the inclusion of Data Availability Statements (DAS) in articles. These are a simple, consistent way to provide human-readable information within an article, stating which data underlie the research, where the data may be found, and the conditions under which the data may be accessed. A DAS helps demonstrate how authors have complied with relevant funder, institution or journal data policies. Publishers are also facilitating citations to data in articles. The Scholix framework is an effective way to expose data-to-literature links, increasing the visibility of articles and research data alike.
Publishers are also playing an active role in discussing the role of research data in the broader research ecosystem. Through partnerships, collaborations and participation in various initiatives and organizations, topics like research data quality, policy alignment, and the role of other data objects are actively being discussed and explored.