The plate tectonics of research data publication

"An analogy can perhaps be made with geological plate tectonics. The new policies of funders and journal publishers towards the open publication of research datasets arising from publicly funded research can be likened to a tectonic plate slowly moving forward with inexorable force, that is colliding with the massive stationary continental plate of established scientific practice, in which data are traditionally regarded as belonging to the research group that generated them, in which data sharing occurs only between trusted colleagues on the basis of personal request, and in which the only publications that are truly valued are those of journal articles....We are thus on the cusp between the traditional status quo and a new dramatically reshaped scientific publication landscape, in which open data publication will take its proper place as underpinning the publication of ideas and evidences supporting hypotheses. Technological projects such as the JISC ADMIRAL Project and its successor the JISC UMF DataFlow Project serve to facilitate this transition by ‘lubricating’ the plate boundary and enabling movement...."