Case for International Sharing of Scientific Data: A Focus on Developing Countries. Proceedings of a Symposium.

摘要

Scientific research and problem solving are increasingly dependent for successful outcomes on access to diverse sources of data generated by the public and academic research community. Global issues, such as disaster mitigation and response, international environmental management, epidemiology of infectious diseases, and various types of sustainable development concerns, require access to reliable data from many, if not all, countries. Digital networks now provide a near-universal infrastructure for sharing much of this factual information on a timely, comprehensive, and low-cost basis. There also are many compelling examples of data sharing in different research and application areas that have yielded great benefits to the world community, although many more could be similarly facilitated. Many countries that are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and some emerging economies already have implemented national policies and programs for public data management and access, while others are in the process of developing them. Nevertheless, many developing countries do not have formal mechanisms in place. The topic of data sharing is broad and complex, and developing countries have different infrastructure, human resource, and access needs that must be addressed. (For purposes of this report, developing countries are defined as non-OECD countries, recognizing that there is a broad range of economic development among the non-OECD nations.) There are various specific barriers to the access and sharing of scientific data collected by governments or by researchers using public funding. Such obstacles include scientific and technical, institutional and management, economic and financial, legal and policy, and normative and sociocultural barriers, as well as limitations in digital infrastructure. Some of these barriers are possible to diminish or remove, whereas others seek to balance competing values that impose legitimate limitations on openness. Despite such challenges, however, there could be much greater value and benefits to research and society, particularly for economic and social development, from the broader use and sharing of existing factual data sources.