{"id":2983,"date":"2016-02-29T07:26:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T07:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=2983"},"modified":"2018-05-24T16:53:13","modified_gmt":"2018-05-24T11:23:13","slug":"sharing-research-data-conflict-of-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/sharing-research-data-conflict-of-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Sharing Research Data a Conflict of Interest?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>An Academic Community<\/h2>\n<p>When we speak of the worlds of academic research and academic publishing, we often refer to\u00a0the academic community as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/international-collaboration-in-scientific-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">collaborative group of professionals<\/a> committed to discovering more about the world in which we live. The reality of that community can often be quite different. As an increasing number of doctoral graduates and researchers chase a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/the-impact-of-academic-job-market-on-phd-students\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">declining number of research positions<\/a>, dollars, and publishing opportunities, the rules of communication in this community can shift from collaboration to extreme competition in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Share Data?<\/h2>\n<p>In such a competitive environment, the first reason to share data would be to increase the visibility of your work and your opportunities for authorship as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/difference-contributor-and-co-author\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">co-author or contributor<\/a> to more papers than the one you currently have in the apparently endless purgatory of academic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/publication-support-services\/peer-review-process\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"115\" title=\"Peer Review\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">peer review<\/a>. While primary authorship may carry more prestige, you\u2019re only betting on one horse and one or two back-ups, whereas shared data increases your odds of publication considerably.<\/p>\n<p>A second and more community-oriented reason is to avoid needless replication. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/importance-of-replication-studies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Replication studies<\/a> serve a valuable role in validating existing studies, but if data isn\u2019t widely shared, multiple original studies on the same topic using similar methodologies could be authorized and conducted simultaneously without any of the research teams being aware of the other studies. This would not be the best use of increasingly scarce research funding.<\/p>\n<h2>Potential Conflicts of Interest<\/h2>\n<p>While we can rationalize the choice not to share data on multiple grounds, there are potential conflicts of interest at work in those rationalizations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><em>Not Your Data To Share<\/em> <\/strong>\u2013 completing a detailed research study that produces the results you were anticipating, or better still, beyond your expectations, can be euphoric. The fruits of your labor should be shared, but what if those fruits aren\u2019t yours to share? Depending on the research-funding contract, ownership of the data may remain with the institution, grant organization, or corporation who underwrote your study. Even if the contract <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/should-you-share-pre-published-data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">allows publication<\/a>, specific clauses can specify where you can and cannot publish.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>How the Data is Shared<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 the widespread use of spreadsheets, website downloads, and accessible data repositories is making data\u00a0sharing easier every day. However, the obligation of confidentiality of that data hasn\u2019t changed, and the burden of compliance remains with the sharer.<\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Danger of Being Scooped<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 if your work is especially topical or groundbreaking, the desire to protect your data is understandable. The faster publication times of open access journals could quite easily get your data into the public domain, while your research is still under\u00a0peer review. However, your conviction in the importance of your results should get some form of concurrence or consensus from an objective third party before you unilaterally ignore the scientific axiom that knowledge should be made available to everyone.<\/li>\n<li><strong>What Data to Share<\/strong> \u2013 sharing files without accompanying instructions to ensure that the data is used correctly, creates a risk of misinterpretation or misuse that could damage the studies that incorporate your data, and your reputation if those studies bring your original work into question.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Tempered Enthusiasm<\/h2>\n<p>Sharing the results of your study with your academic colleagues (assuming you have permission to do so) is an experience that you deserve to enjoy after all your hard work, but to avoid the conflict of interest traps, temper your enthusiasm with some objectivity to ensure that your best intentions aren\u2019t derailed.<\/p>\n<div style=\"display:flex; gap:10px;justify-content:\" class=\"wps-pgfw-pdf-generate-icon__wrapper-frontend\">\n\t\t<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2983?action=genpdf&amp;id=2983\" class=\"pgfw-single-pdf-download-button\" ><img data-src=\"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-generator-for-wp\/admin\/src\/images\/PDF_Tray.svg\" title=\"Generate PDF\" style=\"width:auto; height:45px;\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\"><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Academic Community When we speak of the worlds of academic research and academic publishing,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[751,754],"tags":[955],"ppma_author":[1894],"class_list":["post-2983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publication-stages","category-publication-ethics","tag-conflicts-of-interest"],"better_featured_image":null,"acf":{"faq_main_heading":"","faq_heading_one":"","faq_heading_two":"","faq_heading_three":"","faq_heading_four":"","faq_heading_five":"","faq_heading_six":"","faq_description_one":"","faq_description_two":"","faq_description_three":"","faq_description_four":"","faq_description_five":"","faq_description_six":""},"views":521,"single_webinar_page_date":null,"single_webinar_page_time":null,"session_agenda":null,"who_should_attend_this_session":null,"about_the_speaker_field":null,"co-webinar-sec":null,"co_webinar_sec_one":null,"speaker-name":null,"webinar-date":null,"webinar-time":null,"webinar-s-image":null,"custum_webinar_category":null,"authors":[{"term_id":1894,"user_id":6,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daveishan","display_name":"Enago Academy","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-favicon-192x192-1.png","url2x":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/cropped-favicon-192x192-1.png"},"author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":"Enago Academy, the knowledge arm of Enago, offers comprehensive and up-to-date resources on academic research and scholarly publishing to all levels of scholarly professionals: students, researchers, editors, publishers, and academic societies. It is also a popular platform for networking, allowing researchers to learn, share, and discuss their experiences within their network and community. The team, which comprises subject matter experts, academicians, trainers, and technical project managers, are passionate about helping researchers at all levels establish a successful career, both within and outside academia."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2983"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}