A reputation economy: how individual reward considerations trump systemic arguments for open access to data

Abstract

Open access to research data has been described as a driver of innovation and a potential cure for the reproducibility crisis in many academic fields. Against this backdrop, policy makers are increasingly advocating for making research data and supporting material openly available online. Despite its potential to further scientific progress, widespread data sharing in small science is still an ideal practised in moderation. In this article, we explore the question of what drives open access to research data using a survey among 1564 mainly German researchers across all disciplines. We show that, regardless of their disciplinary background, researchers recognize the benefits of open access to research data for both their own research and scientific progress as a whole. Nonetheless, most researchers share their data only selectively. We show that individual reward considerations conflict with widespread data sharing. Based on our results, we present policy implications that are in line with both individual reward considerations and scientific progress.

Building a Culture of Data Sharing: Policy Design and Implementation for Research Data Management in Development Research

“…A broader cultural issue which was consistent across the projects and is consistent with other reports (Borgmann 2014, Fecher et al 2017) was the sense of ownership and desire for control over data. This arose both in the decision to develop local data sharing infrastructures in three cases but also more generally.…”

“…While within the Pilot Project this may be a consequence of a deliberately biased sampling process this is consistent with other studies that show in-principle support for data sharing and good management practice is very high (Fecher et al 2017). Other studies show that in practice it falls short, with issues of credit assignment, workload, ethical obligations, and lack of benefit given as reasons for the gap between theory and practice (Borgmann 2014).…”

Researchers' attitudes and perceptions towards data sharing and data reuse in the field of food science and technology

“…When asked what they had done with research data used or collected as part of their last research project, 62% of respondents said they shared them directly with researchers working on the same research project in a research collaboration, 22% shared them directly with project partners, and very few (3%) shared them directly with researchers not working on the same research project whom they did not know personally (see Table 1). This lack of trust and the fear that data may be misinterpreted or misused are attitudes also described in other fields, such as geophysics (Tenopir, Christian, Allard, & Borycz, 2018) and other disciplines (Fecher, Friesike, Hebing, & Linek, 2017). Most respondents (69%) believe that a lot of effort is required to make their research data reusable by others (Table 1).…”

“…Acknowledgement, recognition, citation, and providing reprints of articles using the data to the data provider, were the most common statements selected by respondents, which are directly related to collaboration and feedback from data users. Recovery of part of the cost of data acquisition does not seem as important when exchanging data is driven by prestige and reputation rather than money (Fecher et al, 2015(Fecher et al, , 2017.…”

Gender-Related Differences in Scientific Collaboration Depend on Working Conditions

“…To understand the context of our study, it has to be said that research data are -as the raw material for article publications -crucial for the individual researcher's career development. Accordingly, academia can be described as a reputation economy [2], i.e., a system in which each researcher tries to maximize his/her reputation. Researchers share data and knowledge rather if it pays off in terms of reputational gain.…”