Why should I share my data?

You may be hesitant to share your data with the world however there are several good reasons to do so: 

• Improved data management  – These public resources allow researchers to keep their data, along with the related metadata, all in one place, which makes it really easy to find files for specific projects and keep track of data over time.
• Transparency – Open data enables other researchers to verify and replicate your results, demonstrating that your research is reproducible and reliable.
• Benefits to the scientific community – Although you may have already analysed the data it could still be valuable to others looking to answer different research questions. Furthermore it may save others time and money if the data they require has already been generated and is available through open access.
• Funding/publishing requirements – Nowadays data sharing is often a common requirement for grant funding or article publishing, so in these cases it is mandatory to upload your data to publicly available data resources.