Abstract
Open data has been hailed as an important corrective for the credibility crisis in science. This paper makes an initial attempt to measure the relationship between open data and credible research by analyzing the number of retracted articles with attached or open data in an open access science journal. Using Retraction Watch, retracted papers published in PLoS between 2014 and 2018 are identified. Of the 152 total retracted papers, fewer than 15% attached their data. Since about half of the published articles have open data, and so few of the retracted ones do, we put forth the preliminary notion that open data, especially high quality and well-curated data, might imply scientific credibility.
Keywords
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The PLoS retraction policy is at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/corrections-and-retractions, referencing and including the ICMJE (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) rules given at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/publishing-and-editorial-issues/scientific-misconduct-expressions-of-concern-and-retraction.html. Note that a retraction does not necessarily imply either malfeasance or a significant error; articles can be retracted for a missing author, for example.
References
Begley, C.G., Ellis, L.M.: Raise standards for preclinical cancer research. Nature 483, 531–533 (2012)
Benjamin, D.J., et al.: Redefine statistical significance, 22 July 2017. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mky9j
Bohannon, J.: Many psychology papers fail replication test. Science 349(6251), 910–911 (2015)
Bolukbasi, B., et al.: Open data: crediting a culture of cooperation. Science 342(6162), 1041–1042 (2013)
Bonnell, D.A., et al.: Recycling is not always good: the dangers of self-plagiarism. ACS Nano 6(1), 1–4 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1021/nn3000912
Borgman, C.L.: The conundrum of sharing research data. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol. 63(6), 1059–1078 (2012)
Camerer, C.F., et al.: Evaluating the replicability of social science experiments in Nature and Science between 2010 and 2015. Nat. Hum. Behav. 2, 637–644 (2018)
Cassidy, J.: The Reinhart and Rogoff Controversy: A Summing Up. The New Yorker, New York (2013)
Editorial and Publishing Policies. PLoS (2018). https://www.plos.org/editorial-publishing-policies
Fecher, B., Friesike, S., Hebing, M.: What drives academic data sharing? PLoS ONE 10(2), e0118053 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118053
Gewin, V.: Data sharing: an open mind on open data. Nature 529(7584), 117–119 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7584-117a
Heidorn, P.B.: The emerging role of libraries in data curation and e-science. J. Libr. Adm. 51, 662–672 (2011)
Kønig, N., Børsen, T., Emmeche, C.: The ethos of post-normal science. Futures 91, 12–24 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2016.12.004
Labbé, C., Labbé, D., Portet, F.: Detection of computer generated papers in scientific literature <hal-01134598> (2015). https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01134598
Leeming, J.: How will open data advance scientific discovery? Naturejobs Blog (2017). http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2017/10/25/how-will-open-data-advance-scientific-discovery/. Accessed 9 May 2018
Marcus, A., Oransky, I.: What’s Behind Big Science Frauds? The New York Times, New York (2015). https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/opinion/whats-behind-big-science-frauds.html
Molloy, J.C.: The Open Knowledge Foundation: open data means better science. PLoS Biol. 9(12), e1001195 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001195
The National Science Foundation Open government plan: 4.0, September 2016. https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16131/nsf16131.pdf
Nelson, B.: Data sharing: empty archives. Nature 461, 160–163 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/461160a
Peer, L.: Reproducible research practices at ISPS, 30 April 2018. https://isps.yale.edu/news/blog/2018/05/reproducible-research-practices-at-isps
Piwowar, H.A., Vision, T.J.: Data reuse and the open data citation advantage. PeerJ: Bioinformatics and Genomics section, 1 October 2013
Prinz, F., Schlange, T., Asadullah, K.: Believe it or not: how much can we rely on published data on potential drug targets? Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 10, 712 (2011)
Rekdal, O.B.: Academic urban legends. Soc. Stud. Sci. 44(4), 638–654 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312714535679
Sadiq, S., Marta Indulska, M.: Open data: quality over quantity. Int. J. Inf. Manage. 37, 150–154 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2017.01.003
Saltelli, A., Funtowicz, S.: What is science’s crisis really about? Futures 91, 5–11 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2017.05.010
Saltelli, A., Giampietro, M.: What is wrong with evidence based policy, and how can it be improved? Futures 91, 62–71 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2016.11.012
Sayre, F., Riegelman, A.: The reproducibility crisis and academic libraries. Coll. Res. Libr. 79(1), 2 (2018). https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/article/view/16846/18452
Tenopir, C., et al.: Data sharing by scientists: practices and perceptions. PLoS One, 29 June 2011. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021101
Teixeira da Silva, J.A., Dobránszki, J.: Potential dangers with open access data files in the expanding open data movement. Publ. Res. Q. 31, 298–305 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-015-9420-9
Van Noorden, R.: Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers: conference proceedings removed from subscription databases after scientist reveals that they were computer-generated. Nature News (February 24, 2014; Updated February 25, 2014)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lesk, M., Mattern, J.B., Moulaison Sandy, H. (2019). Are Papers with Open Data More Credible? An Analysis of Open Data Availability in Retracted PLoS Articles. In: Taylor, N., Christian-Lamb, C., Martin, M., Nardi, B. (eds) Information in Contemporary Society. iConference 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11420. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15742-5_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15742-5_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15741-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15742-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)