The FAIR data imperative: Working together to connect data and related publications

Abstract

Scientific data are burgeoning — thousands of petabytes were collected in 2018 alone. But these data are not being used widely enough to realize their potential. Most researchers come up against obstacles when they try to get their hands on data sets. Only one-fifth of published papers typically post the supporting data in scientific repositories — as has been shown by PLoS ONE1. Too much valuable, hard-won information is gathering dust on computers, disks and tapes. Scientists don’t share data for many reasons. Those who create data rarely receive credit, and when they do, recognition is often limited to citations (see page 30). Scant support is available for curating data. These issues span all disciplines, but conversations are disconnected.