Full article: Open science and sharing personal data widely – legally impossible for Europeans?

"A requirement for having a research paper published in many medical journals is that the authors include a data sharing statement. Although the requirement from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors is not very strict, simply requiring a statement [1], interpretation varies. Some journals essentially require that data must be readily available for other researchers for the paper to be accepted.

While most of us eagerly welcome open science and reuse of data to ensure reproducible science, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides strong protection of privacy and rather restricts and counteracts open sharing of personal data [2]. Some editors will accept that data are not readily sharable with others than peer reviewers for legal reasons. However, editors of non-European journals will often object to a GDPR-compatible data sharing statement and, consequently and often at the last minute, reject the research paper.

Why is this an issue? How difficult is it for European researchers to share data with researchers in other parts of the world?"