A cross-sectional audit and survey of Open Science and Data Sharing practices at The Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital

Abstract

Background: Open science is a movement and set of practices to conduct research more transparently. The adoption of open science has been recognized to support innovation, equity, and transparency. The Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (Neuro) has committed to becoming an ‘open science’ institute, the first of its kind in Canada. Here we report on an audit of open data practices in Neuro publications and on a survey of Neuro-based researchers’ barriers and facilitators to data sharing. Methods: In the first study, we retrieved 313 unique publications and collated all Neuro publications from 2019 and extracted information from each article pertaining to data sharing and other open science practices. We included all empirical papers and pre-prints that were reported in English. In the second study, one hundred twenty-four participants (out of 553) completed the survey, with a response rate of 22.42%. We surveyed all Neuro researchers. For the audit, we examined data sharing and open science practices. For the survey, we asked participants questions about their data sharing practices and perceptions. Results: We found that 66.5% of these publications (n=208) included a data sharing statement. Overall, 74.5% (n=155) of articles had data that was publicly available. When examining broader open science practices, rates of compliance tended to be lower. For example, 94.9% (n=297) of publications failed to register a protocol. Among participants who had published a first or last authored paper in the past year, most participants, 53 of 74 (71.62%), reported that they had openly shared their research data. Less than half of the participants, 37.50% (n=45), reported having engaged in training related to data sharing within the last 12 months. Conclusion: We found that half of all publications included in the audit shared data. Participants indicated an appetite for resources for learning about data-sharing signaling a willingness to perform better.