Barriers and facilitators in the data publishing process: Evidence from an interview-based study of journal data publication

One strategy for encouraging researchers to publish data is to mandate that researchers submit the data underlying a manuscript upon submission or acceptance of the paper. Previous studies demonstrated the usefulness of this strategy for ensuring that authors make some form of data available. However, the impact of such policies on data quality remains unclear. This talk reports on interviews with journal editors and an analysis of datasets published in top ecology journals. We found that none of the journals we studied have rigorous data review processes in place and discuss the implications for the quality of published data.