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From Policy to Practice: : Progress towards Data- and Code-Sharing in Ecology and Evolution

Ivimey-Cook, Edward ; Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo ; Berberi, Ilias ; Culina, Antica ; Roche, Dominique ; Almeida, Rafaela ; Amin, Bawan ; Bairos-Novak, Kevin ; Balti, Heikel and Bertram, Michael , et al. (2025) In EcoEvoRxiv
Abstract
High quality research data and analytical code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results, are key research outputs, and are crucial elements to facilitate reproducibility. However, in ecology and evolution (E&E) in particular, it is currently unknown how many journals have policies on data- and code-sharing for peer review purposes, or upon manuscript acceptance. Furthermore, the clarity of such policies may impact authors' compliance. Thus, we assessed the clarity, strictness, and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in E&E. We also analysed initial policy compliance using submission data from two journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B and Ecology Letters. Across all 275... (More)
High quality research data and analytical code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results, are key research outputs, and are crucial elements to facilitate reproducibility. However, in ecology and evolution (E&E) in particular, it is currently unknown how many journals have policies on data- and code-sharing for peer review purposes, or upon manuscript acceptance. Furthermore, the clarity of such policies may impact authors' compliance. Thus, we assessed the clarity, strictness, and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in E&E. We also analysed initial policy compliance using submission data from two journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B and Ecology Letters. Across all 275 journals, 22.5% encouraged and 38.2% mandated data-sharing, whereas 26.6% encouraged and 26.9% mandated code-sharing. Most journals that mandated data- or code-sharing required these to be provided “during peer review” (59.0% and 77.0%). This number was reduced for journals that encouraged data- and code-sharing (40.3% and 24.7%). More journals mandated or encouraged data- (+5.7%) and code-sharing (+12.6%) since the last assessments of these percentages in 2021 and 2020. Mandatory policies were associated with higher rates of data- and code-sharing upon submission (16.9% pre-mandate to 42.6% post-mandate), even when not fully adhered to. When enforced by editorial staff, mandated policies led to very high compliance rates (e.g., 96.5%). Our results also suggest that low initial compliance may in part be explained by vague wording used in sharing policies. We provide seven specific recommendations to help journals improve policy compliance and boost data- and code-sharing in E&E. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
submitted
subject
keywords
open science, journal policy, reproducibility, replicability, transparency, peer-review
in
EcoEvoRxiv
publisher
EcoEvoRxiv
DOI
10.32942/X2492Q
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
59c070e0-0003-47dd-a0b8-5885c111998e
date added to LUP
2025-01-31 11:31:35
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:33:49
@misc{59c070e0-0003-47dd-a0b8-5885c111998e,
  abstract     = {{High quality research data and analytical code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results, are key research outputs, and are crucial elements to facilitate reproducibility. However, in ecology and evolution (E&E) in particular, it is currently unknown how many journals have policies on data- and code-sharing for peer review purposes, or upon manuscript acceptance. Furthermore, the clarity of such policies may impact authors' compliance. Thus, we assessed the clarity, strictness, and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in E&E. We also analysed initial policy compliance using submission data from two journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B and Ecology Letters. Across all 275 journals, 22.5% encouraged and 38.2% mandated data-sharing, whereas 26.6% encouraged and 26.9% mandated code-sharing. Most journals that mandated data- or code-sharing required these to be provided “during peer review” (59.0% and 77.0%). This number was reduced for journals that encouraged data- and code-sharing (40.3% and 24.7%). More journals mandated or encouraged data- (+5.7%) and code-sharing (+12.6%) since the last assessments of these percentages in 2021 and 2020. Mandatory policies were associated with higher rates of data- and code-sharing upon submission (16.9% pre-mandate to 42.6% post-mandate), even when not fully adhered to. When enforced by editorial staff, mandated policies led to very high compliance rates (e.g., 96.5%). Our results also suggest that low initial compliance may in part be explained by vague wording used in sharing policies. We provide seven specific recommendations to help journals improve policy compliance and boost data- and code-sharing in E&E.}},
  author       = {{Ivimey-Cook, Edward and Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo and Berberi, Ilias and Culina, Antica and Roche, Dominique and Almeida, Rafaela and Amin, Bawan and Bairos-Novak, Kevin and Balti, Heikel and Bertram, Michael and Bliard, Louis and Byrne, Ilha and Chan, Ying-Chi and Cioffi, William and Corbel, Quentin and Elsy, Alexander and Florko, Katie and Gould, Elliot and Grainger, Matthew and Harshbarger, Anne and Hovstad, Knut and Martin, Jake and Martinig, April and Masoero, Giulia and Moodie, Iain and Moreau, David and O'Dea, Rose and Paquet, Matthieu and Pick, Joel and Rizvi, Tuba and Silva, Inês and Szabo, Birgit and Takola, Elina and Thoré, Eli and Verberk, Wilco and Windecker, Saras and Winter, Gabe and Zajkova, Zuzana and Zeiss, Romy and Moran, Nicholas}},
  keywords     = {{open science; journal policy; reproducibility; replicability; transparency; peer-review}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  note         = {{Preprint}},
  publisher    = {{EcoEvoRxiv}},
  series       = {{EcoEvoRxiv}},
  title        = {{From Policy to Practice: : Progress towards Data- and Code-Sharing in Ecology and Evolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.32942/X2492Q}},
  doi          = {{10.32942/X2492Q}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}