Sharing data means making your research data (raw data, methods, source code, etc.) accessible to others.  Research data can be shared using many methods, including personal requests, websites, and research data repositories or archives. 

Sharing data enables others to view or replicate your methods and/or reference and use your data for another project.  When used by others, data can be cited to give you credit for your work - just like an article.  If your data is available online, include the link in your article to gain more exposure.

You may also be required to share your data depending on where you get funding or where you publish, and what type of data you are creating.  

Before sharing:

• Determine ownership of data

• Consider ethical or legal questions

• Consider any copyrights, patents, or embargos

• Know funding and/or publisher requirements

Looking for data to use in your research or a place to share your research data?  For a list of selected repositories organized by subject area, click here

See re3data.org and databib.org for more extensive lists of research data repositories.

Some journals will ask you to share the underlying research data for your article as a condition of publication, and they may specify where they wish this data to be shared.  Check in the instructions for authors section of a journal's website to determine if there are data sharing requirements or recommendations for a particular title.  

"CIHR will now require grant recipients to deposit bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data into the appropriate public database, as already required by most journals, immediately upon publication of research results"