Scientific research activities generate a large amount of data, with most of it not ending up as part of a publication. Negative results and even perfectly good data often end up in the record files. The withholding of negative publications is a widely known phenomenon that leads to a significant bias, often referred to as the file drawer effect.On the other hand, as government agencies and research funders see the benefit of and require open research content, researchers need a better understanding of the ways in which they can make their research outputs available publicly while getting credit and maintaining ownership.
Figshare is a free, online digital repository where researchers can preserve and share their research outputs, including figures, datasets, images, and videos. Users can upload files in any format, and items are attributed a Digital Object Identifier. All files are released under a Creative Commons license, CC-BY for most files and CC0 (public domain) for datasets. Figshare also tracks the download statistics for hosted materials, acting in turn as a source for alternative scholarly impact metrics (alt metrics). By encouraging publishing of figures, charts, and data, rather than being limited to the traditional entire 'paper', knowledge can be shared more quickly and effectively. This webinar will introduce the platform, how to best use it, and showcase examples of successful data sharing and its impact.