Data sharing practices in open access mode: a study of the willingness to share data in different disciplines

Abstract

Introduction. Considering the problems of making research data freely available despite many initiatives and legislation, this study explores the possible differences and similarities of research fields in understanding and enacting open access use and sharing of research data. Method. An online survey was distributed and 671 responses of researchers from Lithuania and Finland were surveyed. Analysis. Chi-squared tests were used to compare proportions across questions groups. Bonferroni corrections applied to p-values were used to reduce the risk of type I errors in the post-hoc analysis of Chi-squared tests. Chi-squared post-hoc tests using adjusted residuals were calculated. Results. Willingness to share research data in open access mode was higher in natural, biomedical and technological sciences than in humanities and social sciences. Although the principle of open research data is supported, there are considerable differences in the character of research data, and the ethical concerns and data management policies between different research fields. Conclusions. Changing culture of data sharing is much harder than publication of new initiatives and legislation. By comparing results with the data from same survey from UK, France, and Turkey we find out that researcher in Finland and Lithuania are more conservative regarding open research data.