Table 2 Policies and guidelines promoting open science

Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (1997)

Article 12(a):

Benefits from advances in biology, genetics and medicine, concerning the human genome, shall be made available to all, with due regard for the dignity and human rights of each individual

International Declaration on Human Genetic Data (2003)

Article 18(c):

Researchers should endeavour to establish cooperative relationships, based on mutual respect with regard to scientific and ethical matters and, subject to the provisions of Article 14, should encourage the free circulation of human genetic data and human proteomic data in order to foster the sharing of scientific knowledge, provided that the principles set out in this Declaration are observed by the parties concerned. To this end, they should also endeavour to publish in due course the results of their research

HUGO, Statement on Human Genomic Databases (2002)

Human genomic databases are global public goods.

...

The free flow of data...should be encouraged

Bermuda Principles (1996)

...all human genomic sequence information, generated by centres funded for large-scale human sequencing, should be freely available and in the public domain in order to encourage research and development and to maximise its benefit to society

Fort Lauderdale Agreement (2003)

Rapid release of DNA sequence data should be extended to all sequence data.

Rapid pre-publication release should apply to other types of data from other large-scale production centers specially established as 'community resource projects'

Toronto Statement (2009)

...attendees endorsed the value of rapid pre-publication data release for large reference datasets in biology and medicine that have broad utility and agreed that pre-publication data release should go beyond genomics and proteomics studies to other datasets - including chemical structure, metabolomic, and RNAi datasets, and annotated clinical resources (cohorts, tissue banks, and case-control studies)

Joint Funders Statement (2011)

Goals: ...

Data sharing is recognized as a professional achievement

Funders and employers of researchers recognize data management and sharing of well-managed datasets as an important professional indicator of success in research

Well documented data sets are available for secondary analysis

Data collected for health research are made available to the scientific community for analysis which adds value to existing knowledge and which leads to improvements in health

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Principles and Guidelines for Access to Research Data from Public Funding (2007)

Full and open access to scientific data should be adopted as the international norm associated with publicly funded research

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Policy on Access to Research Outputs (2007)

...CIHR has a fundamental interest in ensuring that the findings that result from the research it funds, including research publications and publication-related data, are available to the widest possible audience, and at the earliest possible opportunity

Genome Canada, Data Release and Resource Sharing Policy (2008)

Genome Canada is committed to the principle of rapid data release and sharing of unique resources to the scientific community; Genome Canada-funded projects must therefore share data and resources in a timely fashion with minimal or no restrictions.

....

Genome Canada applicants must provide a Data and Resource Sharing Plan as part of their application

Genome Canada, Policy on Access to Research Publications (2008)

Research publications are an important output of the research funded by Genome Canada and free, online access to these publications is paramount. Genome Canada recommends that peer reviewed publications that have been supported, in whole or in part, by Genome Canada be made freely accessible online, in a central or institutional repository, as soon as possible, and, at the latest, six months after the publication date

National Institutes of Health (US), Final Statement on Sharing Research Data (2003)

...data sharing is essential for expedited translation of research results into knowledge, products, and procedures to improve human health.

...

...all investigator-initiated applications with direct costs greater than $500,000 in any single year will be expected to address data sharing in their application

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (US), Global Health Data Access Principles (2011)

Grantees will be required...to facilitate the prompt and broad dissemination of data.

...

When possible, data should be deposited into public-access repositories

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM; US), Stem Cell Grant Regulations (2006)

Grantees shall share biomedical materials first created under CIRM funding and described in published scientific articles for research purposes in California within 60 days of receipt of a request and without bias as to the affiliation of the requestor unless legally precluded. ...[S]uch materials are to be shared without cost or at the actual cost of providing the material without an allocation of costs for overhead, research, discovery or other non-direct costs of providing the material

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI; US), Sharing of Publication-Related Materials, Data and Software (2007)

...the mission of HHMI is to move biomedical science forward, and broad dissemination of research tools and reagents created by its investigators very much supports that mission...

Medical Research Council (UK), Data Sharing Policy (2011)

Research is a public good and, as such, data should be made available to the maximum extent possible, and should be shared in a timely and responsible manner

Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences Research Council (UK), Data Sharing Policy (2010)

Members of the community are expected and encouraged to practise and promote data sharing, determine standards and best practice, and create a scientific culture in which data sharing is embedded. BBSRC will provide support and funding to facilitate this.

...

BBSRC expects research data generated as a result of BBSRC support to be made available with as few restrictions as possible in a timely and responsible manner to the scientific community for subsequent research

Wellcome Trust (UK), Policy on Data Management and Sharing (2010)

Researchers should maximise the availability of data as the maximization of the value of research depends on fostering a culture in which both data-generators and data-users act with integrity and transparency in managing, using, and sharing data