Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.

The achievement of a robust, effective and responsible form of data sharing is currently regarded as a priority for biological and bio-medical research. Empirical evaluations of data sharing may be regarded as an indispensable first step in the identification of critical aspects and the development...

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Main Authors: Nicola Milia, Alessandra Congiu, Paolo Anagnostou, Francesco Montinaro, Marco Capocasa, Emanuele Sanna, Giovanni Destro Bisol
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22679483/?tool=EBI
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author Nicola Milia
Alessandra Congiu
Paolo Anagnostou
Francesco Montinaro
Marco Capocasa
Emanuele Sanna
Giovanni Destro Bisol
author_facet Nicola Milia
Alessandra Congiu
Paolo Anagnostou
Francesco Montinaro
Marco Capocasa
Emanuele Sanna
Giovanni Destro Bisol
author_sort Nicola Milia
collection DOAJ
description The achievement of a robust, effective and responsible form of data sharing is currently regarded as a priority for biological and bio-medical research. Empirical evaluations of data sharing may be regarded as an indispensable first step in the identification of critical aspects and the development of strategies aimed at increasing availability of research data for the scientific community as a whole. Research concerning human genetic variation represents a potential forerunner in the establishment of widespread sharing of primary datasets. However, no specific analysis has been conducted to date in order to ascertain whether the sharing of primary datasets is common-practice in this research field. To this aim, we analyzed a total of 543 mitochondrial and Y chromosomal datasets reported in 508 papers indexed in the Pubmed database from 2008 to 2011. A substantial portion of datasets (21.9%) was found to have been withheld, while neither strong editorial policies nor high impact factor proved to be effective in increasing the sharing rate beyond the current figure of 80.5%. Disaggregating datasets for research fields, we could observe a substantially lower sharing in medical than evolutionary and forensic genetics, more evident for whole mtDNA sequences (15.0% vs 99.6%). The low rate of positive responses to e-mail requests sent to corresponding authors of withheld datasets (28.6%) suggests that sharing should be regarded as a prerequisite for final paper acceptance, while making authors deposit their results in open online databases which provide data quality control seems to provide the best-practice standard. Finally, we estimated that 29.8% to 32.9% of total resources are used to generate withheld datasets, implying that an important portion of research funding does not produce shared knowledge. By making the scientific community and the public aware of this important aspect, we may help popularize a more effective culture of data sharing.
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spelling doaj.art-8ae85a4134eb4e3b8914db7bf68cad3b2022-12-21T21:43:39ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-0176e3755210.1371/journal.pone.0037552Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.Nicola MiliaAlessandra CongiuPaolo AnagnostouFrancesco MontinaroMarco CapocasaEmanuele SannaGiovanni Destro BisolThe achievement of a robust, effective and responsible form of data sharing is currently regarded as a priority for biological and bio-medical research. Empirical evaluations of data sharing may be regarded as an indispensable first step in the identification of critical aspects and the development of strategies aimed at increasing availability of research data for the scientific community as a whole. Research concerning human genetic variation represents a potential forerunner in the establishment of widespread sharing of primary datasets. However, no specific analysis has been conducted to date in order to ascertain whether the sharing of primary datasets is common-practice in this research field. To this aim, we analyzed a total of 543 mitochondrial and Y chromosomal datasets reported in 508 papers indexed in the Pubmed database from 2008 to 2011. A substantial portion of datasets (21.9%) was found to have been withheld, while neither strong editorial policies nor high impact factor proved to be effective in increasing the sharing rate beyond the current figure of 80.5%. Disaggregating datasets for research fields, we could observe a substantially lower sharing in medical than evolutionary and forensic genetics, more evident for whole mtDNA sequences (15.0% vs 99.6%). The low rate of positive responses to e-mail requests sent to corresponding authors of withheld datasets (28.6%) suggests that sharing should be regarded as a prerequisite for final paper acceptance, while making authors deposit their results in open online databases which provide data quality control seems to provide the best-practice standard. Finally, we estimated that 29.8% to 32.9% of total resources are used to generate withheld datasets, implying that an important portion of research funding does not produce shared knowledge. By making the scientific community and the public aware of this important aspect, we may help popularize a more effective culture of data sharing.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22679483/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Nicola Milia
Alessandra Congiu
Paolo Anagnostou
Francesco Montinaro
Marco Capocasa
Emanuele Sanna
Giovanni Destro Bisol
Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.
PLoS ONE
title Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.
title_full Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.
title_fullStr Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.
title_full_unstemmed Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.
title_short Mine, yours, ours? Sharing data on human genetic variation.
title_sort mine yours ours sharing data on human genetic variation
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22679483/?tool=EBI
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