Making data sharing the norm in medical research

The benefits to patients, science, and society are undeniable Reuse of medical research data—which is conditional on access to individual participant data—is expected to maximise the value of medical research. It enables alternative hypothesis testing, validation of claims, exploration of controversies, restoration of unpublished trials, avoidance of duplicated efforts, and production of new knowledge from existing datasets. Given these benefits, politicians,123 funders,4 and publishers5 now support and implement data sharing policies. However, converging evidence indicates that current policies are unlikely to reach their goal of achieving data sharing. In a linked paper at The BMJ , Hamilton and colleagues (doi:10.1136/bmj-2023-075767) synthesised 105 meta-research studies examining 2 121 580 articles across 31 medical specialties and found that, despite some heterogeneity, data sharing rates are consistently low across medical research.6 Intention-to-share data have increased with time but are not associated with any increase in actual data sharing. Responsible sharing of such sensitive data is, however, a complex endeavour. Preparing, storing, processing, administering data, and complying with legal and regulatory data protection requirements …