The conundrum of sharing research data

We must all accept that science is data and that data are science, and thus provide for, and justify the need for the support of, much‐improved data curation. (Hanson, Sugden, & Alberts, ) Researchers are producing an unprecedented deluge of data by using new methods and instrumentation. Others may wish to mine these data for new discoveries and innovations. However, research data are not readily available as sharing is common in only a few fields such as astronomy and genomics. Data sharing practices in other fields vary widely. Moreover, research data take many forms, are handled in many ways, using many approaches, and often are difficult to interpret once removed from their initial context. Data…