Open Access is not just about free access to published journal literature, but also about finding, reusing, and citing research data. As more pressure is being placed on science researchers to share their federally-funded research data, new tools and platforms for data discovery must be created. Nature Publishing Group has created such a resource: Scientific Data.

Scientific Data sent out a call for submissions in early October 2013 and plans to launch its first issue in May 2014. It does not host or publish actual datasets, but instead publishes descriptions of datasets ("Data Descriptors") as manuscripts in the journal. The tagline for Scientific Data is "credit where credit's due", emphasizing one of the journal's aims: to provide a source for making data easily citable and thus reusable. Other aims of the journal include making data discoverable through the use of these searchable text Data Descriptors and providing links to actual data storage platforms such as Dryad and figshare. 

Scientific Data is an open access journal, thus has no subscription fees. Publishing costs are covered by author fees for Data Descriptor articles accepted into the journal. Data Descriptors are evaluated by peer review and an editorial board. An important additional aim of Scientific Data is to assist researchers in compliance with data management planning requirements from federal funding bodies such as the NSF and the NIH.

Pamela Shaw
Biosciences & Bioinformatics Librarian
email Pamela

The Biosciences & Bioinformatics Blog highlights new tools and news items of interest to the biosciences research community at Northwestern University.