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As a way of sharing resources and learning what others are doing in their various fields of research, there has been a lot of interest towards making data/resources public. This also applies to protocols where researchers are encouraged to publish their protocols once ethical approvals have been granted rather than wait until a study has ended to share the results with the wider community. Through this we continue to benefit from everyday developments in science (share on methodolgy and encouraging transparency). A good case in point is Biomed Central (open access journals) which allows such publications.
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jagarwal
7 Apr 2011
Sharing protocols would help researchers and there should be less barriers and concerns with this
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Jantina de Vries
13 Mar 2011
Hi Raymond. I am not sure whether you were keen to get any comments on this? In any case, let me share this: although I support the move towards greater sharing of resources within science, I think we also need to remain vigilant with regards to potential ethical issues that this raises. Specifically in relation to data sharing in genomics research, I think important ethical issues are raised that relate to privacy and confidentiality, consent, and potentially also the abuse of data in ways that could harm research participants. In some cases, data sharing practices raise these issues, and in others they may change the nature of these challenges. In any case, I think we need to be aware that the practice of sharing data has the potential to change the way in which research is done, and the ethical issues it raises.
