From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution

Ivimey-Cook, Edward R.; Sánchez-Tójar, Alfredo; Berberi, Ilias; Čulina, Antica; Roche, Dominique G.; A. Almeida, Rafaela; Amin, Bawan; Bairos-Novak, Kevin R.; Balti, Heikel; Bertram, Michael G.; Bliard, Louis; Byrne, Ilha; Chan, Ying-Chi; Cioffi, William R.; Corbel, Quentin; Elsy, Alexander D.; Florko, Katie R. N.; Gould, Elliot; Grainger, Matthew J.; Harshbarger, Anne E.; Hovstad, Knut Anders; Martin, Jake M.; Martinig, April Robin; Masoero, Giulia; Moodie, Iain R.; Moreau, David; O'Dea, Rose E.; Paquet, Matthieu; Pick, Joel L. (2025) From policy to practice: progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 292 (2055). ISSN 1471-2954

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Abstract

Data and code are essential for ensuring the credibility of scientific results and facilitating reproducibility, areas in which journal sharing policies play a crucial role. However, in ecology and evolution, we still do not know how widespread data- and code-sharing policies are, how accessible they are, and whether journals support data and code peer review. Here, we first assessed the clarity, strictness and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in ecology and evolution. Second, we assessed initial compliance to journal policies using submissions from two journals: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Mar 2023–Feb 2024: n = 2340) and Ecology Letters (Jun 2021–Nov 2023: n = 571). Our results indicate the need for improvement: across 275 journals, 22.5% encouraged and 38.2% mandated data-sharing, while 26.6% encouraged and 26.9% mandated code-sharing. Journals that mandated data- or code-sharing typically required it for peer review (59.0% and 77.0%, respectively), which decreased when journals only encouraged sharing (40.3% and 24.7%, respectively). Our evaluation of policy compliance confirmed the important role of journals in increasing data- and code-sharing but also indicated the need for meaningful changes to enhance reproducibility. We provide seven recommendations to help improve data- and code-sharing, and policy compliance.

Item Type:

Article

Uncontrolled Keywords:

open science; journal policy; reproducibility; replicability; transparency; peer review

Subjects:

NATURAL SCIENCES
NATURAL SCIENCES > Biology

Divisions:

Division for Marine and Enviromental Research

Projects: