Talk given at ISI CODATA Workshop, Bangalore, India, March 7 2015.

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Brian Hole, Founder and CEO
ISI CODATA Workshop, Bangalore, 9th March 2015
Publishing (open) data

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Overview
 Why publish open
data?
 How to publish
 When open isn’t
possible

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To return control of publishing to researchers, providing them
with the infrastructure and support to advance publishing in
ways that legacy publishers are not willing to do.
About Ubiquity Press
Background
Mission
 Spun out of University College London in 2012
 Researcher-led
 Extensive publishing background as well
(BioMed Central, PLoS, Elsevier, IOP)
 Based in London
 Comprehensive approach: journals,
books, data, software, hardware, wetware….

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The Social Contract
of Science
• Validation
• Dissemination
• Further development
Scientific Malpractice
• Data
• Results
• Software
• Hardware, wetware…
#@%$#@
% #@%$#
Source: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2015

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why publish open
data?

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Openness ensures integrity

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Openness enables validation of reported results

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Openness incentivises rigour in research
Wicherts JM, Bakker M, Molenaar D (2011) Willingness to Share Research Data Is Related to the Strength of the Evidence and the
Quality of Reporting of Statistical Results. PLoS ONE 6(11): e26828. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026828

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how to publish

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Searchable: published metadata allows Google search for data files ✗
Confirmable: author can confirm descriptive metadata terms used ✗
Citable: unique identifiers (DOIs) permit citation of data files ?
Increased exposure of source journal articles through data citation ?
Permanent: data files securely archived in perpetuity ?
Linked: datasets linked to article based on them ✔
Metadata will be available as RDF: part of the “web of linked data” ?
Curated: quality verified, stable formats used, content virus-checked ?
Ease of deposit: authors can upload multiple or zipped files ?
Updatable: new versions of data files can be added, with provenance ✗
Embargo: can delay release of data up to one year after publication ✗
Open access: no restrictions for users, no subscription required ?
Scalable: many journals and societies can leverage economies of scale ✗
Supplementary data

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Data repositories
• Use of a data repository alone works very well in some disciplines
• Genes & gene sequences:
GenBank
• Drosophila: FlyBase
• Clinical trials: clinicaltrials.gov

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• But using just a repository isn’t always best for other disciplines,
and especially the long tail

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Data repositories that work closely with journals
• Provide a home for long-tail data
• Dryad: datadryad.org
• Zenodo: zenodo.org
• Figshare: figshare.com
• Integrate with publisher systems
• Dataverse: dataverse.org

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Data journals have begun to appear over the past two years:
The data publishing landscape

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The basics of the model
Data papers are short
1) Low barrier data publication
Peer review is quick and objective
2) Online authoring
Low APC: £100 / ₹1,000
Lower cost (straight to XML)
Encourages shorter form
3) Open access only (CC-BY)
4) The publisher is not the repository
No-questions-asked waivers

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Repositories
Modified from: XKCD

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1. The paper contents
a. The methods section of the paper must provide
sufficient detail that a reader can understand how
the resource was created.
b. The resource must be correctly described.
c. The reuse section must provide concrete and useful
suggestions for reuse of the reuse.
2. The deposited resource
a. The repository must be suitable for resource
and have a sustainability model.
b. Open license permits unrestricted access (e.g. CC0),
or access guaranteed if criteria met (must qualify)
c. A version in an open, non-proprietary format.
d. Labeled in such a way that a 3rd party can make
sense of it.
e. Must be actionable.
Peer review

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Integrating data publication within universities

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when open isn’t
possible

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Frequently cited reasons not to make data open
• Consent issues
• The data cannot be sufficiently anonymised
• The data is commercially valuable
• More work to be done and published from the data
• Reuse of data could be dangerous
• It would take too much work to make it usable by others

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Any questions?
Or please feel free to contact
brian.hole@ubiquitypress.com