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From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution

Ivimey-Cook, Edward R. ; Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo ; Berberi, Ilias ; Culina, Antica ; Roche, Dominique G. ; A. Almeida, Rafaela ; Amin, Bawan ; Bairos-Novak, Kevin R. ; Balti, Heikel and Bertram, Michael G. , et al. (2025) In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292(2055).
Abstract
Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and code-sharing policies are, how accessible they are, and whether journals support data and code peer review. Here, we first assessed the clarity, strictness and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in ecology and evolution. Second, we assessed initial compliance to journal policies using submissions from two journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Mar 2023–Feb 2024: n = 2340) and Ecology Letters (Jun 2021–Nov 2023: n = 571). Our results indicate the need for... (More)
Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and code-sharing policies are, how accessible they are, and whether journals support data and code peer review. Here, we first assessed the clarity, strictness and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in ecology and evolution. Second, we assessed initial compliance to journal policies using submissions from two journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Mar 2023–Feb 2024: n = 2340) and Ecology Letters (Jun 2021–Nov 2023: n = 571). Our results indicate the need for improvement: across 275 journals, 22.5% encouraged and 38.2% mandated data-sharing, while 26.6% encouraged and 26.9% mandated code-sharing. Journals that mandated data- or code-sharing typically required it for peer review (59.0% and 77.0%, respectively), which decreased when journals only encouraged sharing (40.3% and 24.7%, respectively). Our evaluation of policy compliance confirmed the important role of journals in increasing data- and code-sharing but also indicated the need for meaningful changes to enhance reproducibility. We provide seven recommendations to help improve data- and code-sharing, and policy compliance. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
volume
292
issue
2055
article number
20251394
pages
12 pages
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:40957576
ISSN
1471-2954
DOI
10.1098/rspb.2025.1394
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
64e76cfe-6f5a-419e-8998-5be97f4281da
date added to LUP
2025-09-17 16:56:48
date last changed
2025-09-24 15:41:23
@article{64e76cfe-6f5a-419e-8998-5be97f4281da,
  abstract     = {{Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and code-sharing policies are, how accessible they are, and whether journals support data and code peer review. Here, we first assessed the clarity, strictness and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in ecology and evolution. Second, we assessed initial compliance to journal policies using submissions from two journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Mar 2023–Feb 2024: n = 2340) and Ecology Letters (Jun 2021–Nov 2023: n = 571). Our results indicate the need for improvement: across 275 journals, 22.5% encouraged and 38.2% mandated data-sharing, while 26.6% encouraged and 26.9% mandated code-sharing. Journals that mandated data- or code-sharing typically required it for peer review (59.0% and 77.0%, respectively), which decreased when journals only encouraged sharing (40.3% and 24.7%, respectively). Our evaluation of policy compliance confirmed the important role of journals in increasing data- and code-sharing but also indicated the need for meaningful changes to enhance reproducibility. We provide seven recommendations to help improve data- and code-sharing, and policy compliance.}},
  author       = {{Ivimey-Cook, Edward R. and Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo and Berberi, Ilias and Culina, Antica and Roche, Dominique G. and A. Almeida, Rafaela and Amin, Bawan and Bairos-Novak, Kevin R. and Balti, Heikel and Bertram, Michael G. and Bliard, Louis and Byrne, Ilha and Chan, Ying-Chi and Cioffi, William R. and Corbel, Quentin and Elsy, Alexander D. and Florko, Katie R. N. and Gould, Elliot and Grainger, Matthew J. and Harshbarger, Anne E. and Hovstad, Knut Anders and Martin, Jake M. and Martinig, April Robin and Masoero, Giulia and Moodie, Iain R. and Moreau, David and O'Dea, Rose E. and Paquet, Matthieu and Pick, Joel L. and Rizvi, Tuba and Silva, Inês and Szabo, Birgit and Takola, Elina and Thoré, Eli S. J. and Verberk, Wilco C. E. P. and Windecker, Saras M. and Winter, Gabe and Zajková, Zuzana and Zeiss, Romy and Moran, Nicholas Patrick}},
  issn         = {{1471-2954}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{2055}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
  title        = {{From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.1394}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rspb.2025.1394}},
  volume       = {{292}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}