Please publish and share any data you have already used, or you are currently using, or you might be using in your own research or in teaching courses. In short, everything you, or someone else, might find interesting for scientific or training purposes!
Our policy is much less stringent compared to typical academic publishing, in which only the final manuscript is considered as the sole output of your work that should be shared with others. In contrast, we are much more influenced from the open data movement and the realization that we can not a priori know how, where, when, and if our data will be relevant for someone else’s research.
This does not mean we condone ‘data hoarding’ and inconsiderate publishing; do not forget that all published data consume computing resources.
Let’s summarize then:
- Publish any data you produce or consume during, before, or after your research is complete.
- All kinds, type, or size of data is welcomed. We love data!
- Do not assume that your data will only be useful for scientists in your own field, or for scientists that are familiar with your work and discipline. Your data might be useful for citizen scientists, a school project, a policy brief or a journalist; who knows?
- When we say data, we mean data. Not PDFs, or html pages. These might be useful as auxiliary resources to help others understand your work, but they do not replace the raw data needed for research.
- Do not worry if your data have errors, or are incomplete. They never are! Also, sometimes the errors themselves maybe topics of interest for researchers and an inspiration for innovation. We learn from our mistakes, right?
- Give your data a title and description that anyone can understand. Try to be thorough and imagine that someone many years from now, in a far-away place might be interested to use your data: help your future colleague!