Deeb Haya, Creasey Suzanna, de Ugarte Diego Lucini, Strevens George, Usman Trisha, Wong Hwee Yun, Kutzer Megan A M, Wilson Emma, Zieliński Tomasz, Millar Andrew J
Centre for Engineering Biology and School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Institute of Ecology and Evolution and School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 23;20(7):e0328065. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328065. eCollection 2025.
Open science promotes the accessibility of scientific research and data, emphasising transparency, reproducibility, and collaboration. This study assesses the Openness and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) aspects of data-sharing practices within the biosciences at the University of Edinburgh from 2014 to 2023. We analysed 555 research papers across biotechnology, regenerative medicine, infectious diseases, and non-communicable diseases. Our scoring system evaluated data completeness, reusability, accessibility, and licensing, finding a progressive shift towards better data-sharing practices. The fraction of publications that share all relevant data increased significantly, from 7% in 2014 to 45% in 2023. Data involving genomic sequences were shared more frequently than image data or data on human subjects or samples. The presence of data availability statement (DAS) or preprint sharing correlated with more and better data sharing, particularly in terms of completeness. We discuss local and systemic factors underlying the current and future Open data sharing. Evaluating the automated ODDPub (Open Data Detection in Publications) tool on this manually-scored dataset demonstrated high specificity in identifying cases where no data was shared. ODDPub sensitivity improved with better documentation in the DAS. This positive trend highlights improvements in data-sharing, advocating for continued advances and addressing challenges with data types and documentation.
开放科学促进了科学研究和数据的可获取性，强调透明度、可重复性和协作性。本研究评估了2014年至2023年爱丁堡大学在生物科学领域内数据共享实践的开放性和FAIR（可查找、可获取、可互操作和可重用）方面。我们分析了生物技术、再生医学、传染病和非传染性疾病领域的555篇研究论文。我们的评分系统对数据的完整性、可重用性、可获取性和许可进行了评估，发现数据共享实践正逐步朝着更好的方向转变。共享所有相关数据的出版物比例显著增加，从2014年的7%增至2023年的45%。涉及基因组序列的数据比图像数据或关于人类受试者或样本的数据共享得更频繁。数据可用性声明（DAS）或预印本共享的存在与更多且更好的数据共享相关，尤其是在完整性方面。我们讨论了当前及未来开放数据共享背后的局部和系统因素。在这个人工评分的数据集上评估自动化的ODDPub（出版物中的开放数据检测）工具，结果表明在识别未共享数据的情况时具有高特异性。随着DAS中文档记录的改善，ODDPub的灵敏度有所提高。这一积极趋势凸显了数据共享方面的进步，倡导持续推进并应对数据类型和文档记录方面的挑战。
