Open Research Data: From Vision to Practice

“To make progress in science, we need to be open and share.” This quote from Neelie Kroes (2012), vice president of the European Commission describes the growing public demand for an Open Science. Part of Open Science is, next to Open Access to peer-reviewed publications, the Open Access to research data, the basis of scholarly knowledge. The opportunities and challenges of Data Sharing are discussed widely in the scholarly sector. The cultures of Data Sharing differ within the scholarly disciplines. Well advanced are for example disciplines like biomedicine and earth sciences. Today, more and more funding agencies require a proper Research Data Management and the possibility of data re-use. Many researchers often see the potential of Data Sharing, but they act cautiously. This situation shows a clear ambivalence between the demand for Data Sharing and the current practice of Data Sharing. Starting from a baseline study on current discussions, practices and developments the article describe the challenges of Open Research Data. The authors briefly discuss the barriers and drivers to Data Sharing. Furthermore, the article analyses strategies and approaches to promote and implement Data Sharing. This comprises an analysis of the current landscape of data repositories, enhanced publications and data papers. In this context the authors also shed light on incentive mechanisms, data citation practises and the interaction between data repositories and journals. In the conclusions the authors outline requirements of a future Data Sharing culture.