Extending Accessible Data to more articles, repositories, and outputs - The Official PLOS Blog

"In March 2022, with support from the Wellcome Trust, we launched an experimental “Accessible Data” feature designed to increase research data sharing and reuse. Having observed some interesting preliminary results, we’re extending – and extending the scope of – our “Accessible Data” experiment....

The Accessible Data icon rewards sharing data (and code) in a repository via a weblink. Best practice is sharing via a link-able persistent identifier, such as a DOI, but many PLOS articles link to data in other ways, such as via URLs or private links that are intended to be used for peer review only (a common problem for publishers). There is clearly work to do to improve consistency and practice of how data links are shared, but we decided to be inclusive in how we deploy the Accessible Data icon. It displays as long readers can access the data. We decided it was more important to help researchers as authors  – who may be unaware of the nuances of DOIs and private links – and also help them as readers, by including imperfect but functional links to data in our articles."