Journal Editors To Researchers: Show Everyone Your Clinical Data : Shots - Health News : NPR

"Medical editors don't usually attract much attention. They perform their daily duties evaluating submissions and producing articles that, on good days, influence practice and policy. But last Wednesday, the editors of the leading medical journals around the world made a proposal that could change medical science forever. They said that researchers would have to publicly share the data gathered in their clinical studies as a condition of publishing the results in the journals. This idea is now out for public comment. As it stands now, medical scientists can publish their findings without ever making available the data upon which their conclusions were based. Only some of the top journals, such as The BMJ, have tried to make data sharing a condition of publication. But authors who didn't want to comply could just go elsewhere. Think about it. The scientists who generate the data, with the participation of the people being studied and often with public funding, control it and most often don't share. By holding the data tight, researchers who ran a study are the only ones who can conduct additional analysis and studies. If the proposed change is adopted, as I hope it will be, it would make sharing more compelling ..."