The State of Open Data 2020

Global Attitudes towards Open Data

How researchers are using open data in 2020

We were delighted to partner again with Digital Science on the fifth annual report examining attitudes and experiences of researchers working with open data.

This year’s survey received around 4,500 responses from the research community and had an additional focus on research practices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It asked researchers how the pandemic was impacting their ability to carry out research, and their views on reuse of data and collaboration.


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Key findings

  • A third (32%) of academic researchers reported that their research had been ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ impacted by the outbreak of COVID-19
  • The disciplines affected most by COVID-19 were those working in Chemistry (47%), Biology (39%), Medicine (36%) and Materials Science (36%). The lowest level of impact was reported in Humanities and Social Sciences (20%)

  • 43% of those surveyed have already or are likely to repurpose their grant to some extent for COVID-19 research

  • Lockdown is seen by half of respondents as ‘extremely’ or ‘somewhat’ likely to result in re-use of open data provided by other labs, and 65% expect to reuse their own data

  • More than a third of researchers say they expect to see more collaboration as a result of COVID-19; for those in countries like Brazil and India where the impact of COVID-19 on research appears significant, around half expect collaboration to increase as a result.


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Research Data Community

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Our Research Data Community is a growing forum of advocates for the sharing of research data. It is a great place to interact with other researchers, read the latest information on research data and help advance data sharing practices.


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Research data support

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Springer Nature is committed to supporting researchers in sharing research data and in receiving the credit you deserve. Find out about how we can help you to make sharing your research data faster, easier and more impactful.


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