Open Data
Open Data refers to transparency in the disclosure and sharing of research data under an Open Access license in a bid to permanently incorporate it into the scientific record for the research in question. Research data can be opened by either depositing the data in a public data repository or by publishing it as supporting information alongside a research work. Irrespective of the option chosen, opening data to the wider scientific public ensured that it is easily permanently discoverable and accessible to second or third parties who might need to better understand the research, verify, reanalyze, replicate or reuse the data in future studies.
Why Open Data?
Consumers of scientific research may need to review raw scientific data to deepen their understanding of published scholarly research, or to verify the veracity of claims made within a research, to replicate, reanalyze and to reuse in future research.
Benefits of Opening Your Data
Make Your Science Reproducible
When you actively engage in publicly sharing your research data, you ensure your research remain reproducible even into the future. Reproducibility is not only important for the advancement of science, but also for the training and development of young and upcoming researchers.
Maximize Trust in Your Science
One effective way to demonstrate the rigor and integrity of your research is by opening your data to the public. It enhances the trust and confidence readers, reviewers and policy makers place in the credibility of your study’s findings.
Maximize Recognition and Citation
Academics and researchers who open their data to the public gain recognition and for collecting and curating reproducible data during the research process, this has been demonstrated to boost research impact and citations.
Preserve Data as a Permanent Part of the Scientific Record
When you choose to post your data to a repository or publish them as supporting information alongside your research, you not only prevent data loss, but you also ensure that your data remains a permanent aspect of your research’s scientific record.
The Cecilian Open Data Policy
When you choose to publish your book chapter in a Cecilian Publishing edited book, that decision comes with an inherent commitment that upon the publication of your research, the data underlying your study’s findings will be made publicly available.
Our data policy reflects the rigor of our research publication and dissemination process, but most importantly, deepens our readers’ understanding of each study we publish.
Data Repositories
While our data policy ensures that all published research have their underlying data made publicly available, authors decide whether to have them published as Supplemental Information alongside their publications or deposited in data repositories. While all data sharing strategies ensure that studies are reproducible, engender trust in research findings, maximizes recognition and credit, and ultimately prevent the loss of data; data posted to repositories have the following additional benefits:
They Are More Discoverable
Implementing Open Data means detailed metadata about your research is made available to the public, and the usual bi-directional linking to and from related book chapter ensures data deposited into public repositories are not only easily findable but the research they are related to are more discoverable.
They Are More Reusable
Most repositories use machine-readable data formatting which allow data deposited in them to be easily integrated and used in future summary research such as meta-analyses and systematic reviews.
They Are Easier to Cite
Most repositories assign a unique DOI to all posted data, that is uniquely different from that of the connected or related research. This allows datasets to in and of themselves generate and accumulate independent citations that demonstrate the value and long-lasting relevance of the data.
They Maximize Citation Potential
Empirical evidence exists to show that unlike research where data is made available upon request, or as Supplementary Information, those that link to data in a public repository received 25% more citation on average.
Public Repositories
All edited books open for submissions at Cecilain publishing, have the option to deposit data files directly to Dryad Digital Repository, Figshare, or Open Science Framework (OSF). We are working to integrate more data sharing repositories.