Archiving Primary Data: Solutions for Long-Term Studies

James A Mills; Céline Teplitsky; Beatriz Arroyo; Anne Charmantier; Peter H Becker; Tim R Birkhead; Pierre Bize; Daniel T Blumstein; Christophe Bonenfant; Stan Boutin; Andrey Bushuev; Emmanuelle Cam; Andrew Cockburn; Steeve D Côté; John C Coulson; Francis Daunt; Niels J Dingemanse; Blandine Doligez; Hugh Drummond; Richard H M Espie; Marco Festa-Bianchet; Francesca Frentiu; John W Fitzpatrick; Robert W Furness; Dany Garant; Gilles Gauthier; Peter R Grant; Michael Griesser; Lars Gustafsson; Bengt Hansson; Michael P Harris; Frédéric Jiguet; Petter Kjellander; Erkki Korpimäki; Charles J Krebs; Luc Lens; John D C Linnell; Matthew Low; Andrew McAdam; Antoni Margalida; Juha Merilä; Anders P Møller; Shinichi Nakagawa; Jan-Åke Nilsson; Ian C T Nisbet; Arie J van Noordwijk; Daniel Oro; Tomas Pärt; Fanie Pelletier; Jaime Potti; Benoit Pujol; Denis Réale; Robert F Rockwell; Yan Ropert-Coudert; Alexandre Roulin; James S Sedinger; Jon E Swenson; Christophe Thébaud; Marcel E Visser; Sarah Wanless; David F Westneat; Alastair J Wilson; Andreas Zedrosser

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2015.07.006

Archiving Primary Data: Solutions for Long-Term Studies

Trends Ecol Evol. 2015 Oct;30(10):581-589. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2015.07.006.

Authors

James A Mills¹, Céline Teplitsky², Beatriz Arroyo³, Anne Charmantier⁴, Peter H Becker⁵, Tim R Birkhead⁶, Pierre Bize⁷, Daniel T Blumstein⁸, Christophe Bonenfant⁹, Stan Boutin¹⁰, Andrey Bushuev¹¹, Emmanuelle Cam¹², Andrew Cockburn¹³, Steeve D Côté¹⁴, John C Coulson¹⁵, Francis Daunt¹⁶, Niels J Dingemanse¹⁷, Blandine Doligez⁹, Hugh Drummond¹⁸, Richard H M Espie¹⁹, Marco Festa-Bianchet²⁰, Francesca Frentiu²¹, John W Fitzpatrick²², Robert W Furness²³, Dany Garant²⁰, Gilles Gauthier¹⁴, Peter R Grant²⁴, Michael Griesser²⁵, Lars Gustafsson²⁶, Bengt Hansson²⁷, Michael P Harris¹⁶, Frédéric Jiguet²⁸, Petter Kjellander²⁹, Erkki Korpimäki³⁰, Charles J Krebs³¹, Luc Lens³², John D C Linnell³³, Matthew Low³⁴, Andrew McAdam³⁵, Antoni Margalida³⁶, Juha Merilä³⁷, Anders P Møller³⁸, Shinichi Nakagawa³⁹, Jan-Åke Nilsson²⁶, Ian C T Nisbet⁴⁰, Arie J van Noordwijk⁴¹, Daniel Oro⁴², Tomas Pärt³⁴, Fanie Pelletier²⁰, Jaime Potti⁴³, Benoit Pujol¹³, Denis Réale⁴⁴, Robert F Rockwell⁴⁵, Yan Ropert-Coudert⁴⁶, Alexandre Roulin⁴⁷, James S Sedinger⁴⁸, Jon E Swenson⁴⁹, Christophe Thébaud¹², Marcel E Visser⁴¹, Sarah Wanless¹⁶, David F Westneat⁵⁰, Alastair J Wilson⁵¹, Andreas Zedrosser⁵²

Affiliations

¹ 10527A Skyline Drive, Corning, NY 14830, USA. Electronic address: dmills@stny.rr.com.
² Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, UMR 7204 CNRS/MNHN/UPMC, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. Electronic address: teplitsky@mnhn.fr.
³ Instituto de Investigacion en Recursos Cinegeticos (IREC) (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005 Ciudad, Real, Spain.
⁴ Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive UMR 5175, Campus CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France.
⁵ Institute of Avian Research, 'Vogelwarte Helgoland', An der Vogelwarte 21 D26386 Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
⁶ Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
⁷ Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
⁸ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 621 Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA.
⁹ CNRS,Université Lyon 1, Université de Lyon, UMR 5558, Laboratoire Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, 43 boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne CEDEX, France.
¹⁰ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1/12, 119234 Moscow, Russia.
¹² UMR 5174 EDB Laboratoire Évolution et Diversité Biologique, CNRS, ENFA, Université Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, 31062 Toulouse CEDEX 9, France.
¹³ Department of Evolution, Ecology and Genetics, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
¹⁴ Département de Biologie and Centre d'Etudes Nordiques, Université Laval, 1045 avenue de la Médecine, Québec G1V 0A6, Canada.
¹⁵ 29 St Mary's Close, Shincliffe, Durham DH1 2ND, UK.
¹⁶ Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, EH26 0QB UK.
¹⁷ Behavioural Ecology, Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany; Evolutionary Ecology of Variation Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany.
¹⁸ Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70-275, México DF 04510, México.
¹⁹ Technical Resource Branch, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, 3211 Albert Street, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 5W6, Canada.
²⁰ Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 Boulevard de l'Université, Sherbrooke, Québec J1K 2R1, Canada.
²¹ School of Biomedical Sciences and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059 Australia.
²² Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
²³ Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK.
²⁴ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1003, USA.
²⁵ Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
²⁶ Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Center, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
²⁷ Department of Biology, Lund University, Ecology Building, 223 62, Lund, Sweden.
²⁸ CESCO, UMR7204 Sorbonne Universités-MNHN-CNRS-UPMC, CP51, 55 Rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.
²⁹ Grimso Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) 73091, Riddarhyttan, Sweden.
³⁰ Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014 Turku, Finland.
³¹ Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada.
³² Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium.
³³ Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, PO Box 5685 Sluppen, 7485 Trondheim, Norway.
³⁴ Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden.
³⁵ Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada.
³⁶ Faculty of Life Sciences and Engineering, University of Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
³⁷ Ecological Genetics Research Unit, Department of Biosciences, PO Box 65 (Biocenter 3, Viikinkaari 1), University of Helsinki, 00014 Helskinki, Finland.
³⁸ Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Equipe Diversité, Ecologie et Evolution Microbiennes, Bâtiment 362, 91405 Orsay CEDEX, France.
³⁹ Evolution and Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
⁴⁰ I.C.T. Nisbet and Company, 150 Alder Lane, North Falmouth, MA 02556, USA.
⁴¹ Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), PO Box 50, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
⁴² Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Miquel Marques 21, 07190 Esporles, Mallorca, Spain.
⁴³ Departamento de Ecologia Evolutiva, Estación Biológica de Doñana-CSIC, Av. Américo Vespucio s/n, 41092 Seville, Spain.
⁴⁴ Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec A Montréal, CP 8888 Cuccursale Centre Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada.
⁴⁵ Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024 USA.
⁴⁶ Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, CNRS UMR7178, 23 rue Becquerel 67087 Strasbourg, France.
⁴⁷ Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴⁸ Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada Reno, Reno NV 89512, USA.
⁴⁹ Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, PO Box 5003, 1432 Ås, and Norway and Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, PO Box 5685 Sluppen, 7485 Trondheim, Norway.
⁵⁰ Department of Biology, Center for Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
⁵¹ Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn TR10 9EZ, UK.
⁵² Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Environmental and Health Studies, Telemark University College, 3800 Bø i Telemark, Norway.

PMID: 26411615
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2015.07.006

Abstract

The recent trend for journals to require open access to primary data included in publications has been embraced by many biologists, but has caused apprehension amongst researchers engaged in long-term ecological and evolutionary studies. A worldwide survey of 73 principal investigators (Pls) with long-term studies revealed positive attitudes towards sharing data with the agreement or involvement of the PI, and 93% of PIs have historically shared data. Only 8% were in favor of uncontrolled, open access to primary data while 63% expressed serious concern. We present here their viewpoint on an issue that can have non-trivial scientific consequences. We discuss potential costs of public data archiving and provide possible solutions to meet the needs of journals and researchers.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Biological Evolution
Ecology
Information Dissemination / ethics*
Information Dissemination / methods*
Longitudinal Studies
Open Access Publishing / economics
Open Access Publishing / ethics*
Periodicals as Topic
Surveys and Questionnaires*