Science Without Open Data Isn't Science

A new position paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has generated a lotof controversy among some scientists: Toward Fairness in Data Sharing. It's not hard to see why: the piece criticizes the concept of data sharing in the context of clinical trials. Data sharing is the much-discussed idea that researchers should make their raw data available to anyone who wants to access it. While the NEJM piece is specifically framed as a rebuttal to this recent pro-data sharing NEJM article, the arguments advanced apply to science more generally.