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. 2015 Nov 10;13(11):e1002295.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002295. eCollection 2015.

Public Data Archiving in Ecology and Evolution: How Well Are We Doing?

Dominique G Roche  1   2 , Loeske E B Kruuk  1   3 , Robert Lanfear  1   4 , Sandra A Binning  1   2
Affiliations

Public Data Archiving in Ecology and Evolution: How Well Are We Doing?

Dominique G Roche et al. PLoS Biol. .

Abstract

Policies that mandate public data archiving (PDA) successfully increase accessibility to data underlying scientific publications. However, is the data quality sufficient to allow reuse and reanalysis? We surveyed 100 datasets associated with nonmolecular studies in journals that commonly publish ecological and evolutionary research and have a strong PDA policy. Out of these datasets, 56% were incomplete, and 64% were archived in a way that partially or entirely prevented reuse. We suggest that cultural shifts facilitating clearer benefits to authors are necessary to achieve high-quality PDA and highlight key guidelines to help authors increase their data's reuse potential and compliance with journal data policies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. How complete and reusable are publicly archived data in ecology and evolution?
The expectation of PDA that exists in genetics and molecular biology is rapidly permeating throughout ecology and evolution. With the advent of data archiving policies and integrated data repositories, journals and funders now have effective means of mandating PDA. However, the quality of publicly archived data associated with experimental and observational (nonmolecular) studies in ecology and evolution is highly variable. Illustration by Ainsley Seago.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Completeness and reusability scores.
Frequency distribution of public data archiving (PDA) scores for (A) completeness and (B) reusability across 100 studies in 2012 (light blue bars) and 2013 (dark blue bars). A score of 5 indicates exemplary archiving, and a score of 1 indicates poor archiving (see Table 2). Studies with completeness scores of 3 or lower (left of the red dashed line in panel A) do not comply with their journal's PDA policy. Studies to the left of the red dashed line in panel B have a reusability score between “average” (score of 3) and very poor (score of 1).
Fig 3
Fig 3. The relationship between the reusability and completeness of archived datasets (R = 0.59, p < 0.001).
Empty circles are individual data points (offset to avoid overlap).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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