Open Data FAQs
| 30 July, 2025 | Jack Nash |
Open Data can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be! In this blog post, we’ll cover some of the frequently asked questions our team receives about Open Data to help you prepare the underlying data before you submit your Article to Gates Open Research.
What is a data availability statement?
A data availability statement is a short section of text that tells the reader where, and under what conditions, the data associated with your research can be accessed and used to validate the results in your publication and possibly reused for further research.
Where can I deposit my data?
There are many options to choose from when sharing your data. There are institutional repositories, discipline-specific repositories, general data repositories, and controlled access repositories.
What is a persistent identifier?
A persistent identifier, such as a digital object identifier (DOI), is used to identify a unique research output and enable citation. Persistent identifiers remain constant, even if the location of the digital research output moves. While a URL may change, a persistent identifier will carry across to the new location.
When selecting a data repository for your research data, selecting one that assigns a DOI to your dataset is important.
How can I ensure my data won’t be scooped?
A key benefit of open data is that it makes a dataset trackable through persistent identifiers, timestamps, and links to the authors. This clarifies which researcher established the idea and created the results first. When a researcher deposits their data in a public repository, they have established that they are the creator of the dataset and should receive credit for it.
Will the data I submit be peer-reviewed?
The underlying data of your research will not usually be peer-reviewed. However, granting reviewers access to the dataset could help them better understand your work and add to the transparency and credibility of your findings. If you decide to publish on Gates Open Research, you will need to share any data that relates to your Article.
Are there instances in which I shouldn’t share my data?
In some situations, sharing your data would not be legal or ethical. This includes situations where you don’t own the data, when sharing the data would conflict with the need to protect personal information, or when the data is commercially sensitive or poses a security risk. Your institution’s research ethics committee can provide guidance if you are unsure about sharing your specific dataset.
How can I protect the privacy of research participants?
If your research involves sensitive human data, you need to take extra steps to maintain the privacy of your research participants and share your data in an ethically and legally compliant way. First, anonymise the data. Anonymisation techniques include removing identifying information and generalising where possible.
In some cases, you may want to limit access to the data to specific parties who will treat the data carefully. Controlled access lets you upload your data to a repository while keeping the files private. You can share access with others if specific requirements are met. Check with your institution’s data access committees for further clarification on data access protocols.
What is metadata, and what information should it include?
Metadata is data about other data. It aids both discoverability and understanding of the data. Metadata can contain descriptive information about the dataset and administrative or file details.
The content and format of metadata are often guided by discipline-specific metadata standards and/or specific repository features. Still, metadata records in a repository typically include information such as creation date, file format, data creator, keywords, location, how the data was generated, and version information, amongst other things.
We hope that your questions about Open Data have been answered. If you have any further questions, please get in touch with the Gates Open Research Publishing team, who will happily answer them. You can also browse our other blog posts on Open Data to learn more.
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