The State of Open Data 2018

This is the third Figshare report exploring the global status of open data. The report is a curated collection of articles and analysis.  Open data has become more embedded in the research community. There is a sustained increase in the percentage of academics making data openly available. Increased impact and visibility of research and public benefit remain the most potent motivators behind a researcher’s decision to share.

Key findings

• Awareness of open data remains high
• Fewer researchers are losing data
• More researchers are making data openly available
• Some metrics have plateaued
  • 80% or respondents state they have been aware of open data available for reuse (81% 2017)
• Other metrics show signs of growth
  • 64% of respondents revealed they made data openly available in 2018
  • This is an increase of 4% since 2017 and 7% since 2016
• 35% of 2018 respondents publish their data as an appendix to a research article
• Slightly fewer respondents reported publishing data in a data journal in 2018 (18%) than they did in 2017 (20%).
• 33% reported publishing data in a specific data repository compared with 29% in 2017.
• 53% of respondents who routinely make their data open do not know where the funds to do so come from. This result is markedly higher than for 2016 and 2017 where the figures were 30% and 36% respectively.
• 58% of researchers felt they didn’t get enough credit for sharing data
• Only 9% felt they did get enough credit

Other elements of the report include a review of how open data is developing in Russia and opinions about how to accelerate data sharing.

You can read the full report here.