Scholarly Communication @ UT

• Sharing data can result in a higher citation count for the published article
• Making data available to others ensures your research is truly reproducible
• You get credit for all your research 

There are a variety of tools and resources available to share your research data.

Post data on a project website - Offers the benefits of Open Access and broad dissemination, but requires regular maintenance and there's no control over who can access your data.

Submit to a data journal - Data will be associated with the published work,  but depending on the publisher access may be restricted to those who subscribe to the journal.

Individual Data Requests - By making data available upon request you retain control over who has access to it, but it can be a time intensive method and may not be an acceptable method for your funder.

Deposit data in a repository - Whether it is a disciplinary, subject, general, or institutional data repository this can be a good method for making data freely available, complying with funder requirements, and requires no ongoing maintenance by you,  but you cannot control who accesses data.

Increase your research impact
Sharing your data enables wider dissemination of your research.

Increase Citations
Your article may be cited more if the underlying data is accessible.

Meet grant requirements
Many funding agencies now require that researchers share the data collected for a funded research project.

Preserve your data
Depositing your data in a data repository protects your research time and preserves your research contribution for you and others to use.

Maintain Integrity
Managing your data throughout its life cycle will ensure that you and others can understand and use the data in the future.

Promote new discoveries
By sharing your data you could provide a catalyst for discovery and support future innovations.

You can earn an Open Data Badge from the Center for Open Science when you share your data openly -- display it alongside your journal article or on your personal website.

Learn more about Open Badges

Sharing your data can be very beneficial, but if you have sensitive data, such as medical data about human subjects, you will need to take precautions. You may anonymize the data, but potentially it may be so sensitive that it cannot be shared.