Biomedical Data Sharing Among Researchers: A Study from Jordan

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic Information

Variables	Categories	n	%
Gender	Male	113	56.5
	Female	82	41.0
Age	20–39 years old	100	51.5
	40–50 years old	66	34.0
	˃50 years old	28	14.4
Marital status	Divorced	7	3.5
	Married	138	69.0
	Single	44	22
	Widowed	7	3.5
Sector of work	Governmental	126	63.0
	Private	70	35.0
Discipline	Biology	69.0	34.5
	Medical (medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing)	126.0	63.0
Academic Rank	Lecturer/researcher	30	15.0
	Assistant professor	78	39.0
	Associate professor	52	26.0
	Professor	35	17.0
Funding source	External/industry	49	24.5
	Institutional	101	50.5
	Self	23	11.5

Table 2 Attitude Toward Researchers About Data Sharing

Variables	Categories	n	%
Do you make your research data publicly available?	Yes	9	4.6
	No	103	53.1
	Upon request	82	42.3
If no or upon request, why is your data not available to others?	Concerns about future publishing opportunities	2	1.0
	Concerns about patient privacy	5	2.5
	Data should not be available to public	59	29.5
	Lack of funding	12	6.0
	Lack of regulations (standards)	67	33.5
	No place to deposit the data	13	6.5
If you were asked to share your data, would you be willing to share your data after or before publication?	Before	10	5.0
	After	154	77.0
	Not sure	31	15.5
In your opinion, research data should be available to which of the following sectors?	Academic	19	9.5
	Industry	26	13.0
	Both	139	69.5
	Not sure	11	5.5

Table 3 Relationship of Gender, Number of Publications, and Work Sector with Researchers’ Attitude Toward Data Sharing (Data are Presented as n (%))

Item	Category	Gender		Number of Publications			Work Sector
		Male	Female	<15	15–30	>30	Governmental	Private
Do you make your research data publicly available?	No	57 (50.0)	46 (57.5)	67 (55.4)	18 (50.0)	18 (48.6)	58 (46.8)	45 (64.3)
	Upon Request	49 (43.0)	33 (41.3)	52 (43.0)	15 (41.7)	15 (40.5)	59 (47.6)	23 (32.9)
	Yes	8 (7.0)	1 (1.3)	2 (1.7)	3 (8.3)	4 (10.8)	7 (5.6)	2 (2.9)
	P-value	0.142		0.148			0.060
If no or upon request, why is your data not available to others?	Concerns about future publishing opportunities	2 (02.2)	0 (00.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (3.6)	1 (3.3)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.60)
	Concerns about data confidentiality	3 (03.3)	2 (2.90)	1 (1.0)	4 (14.3)	0 (0.0)	3 (3.10)	2 (3.30)
	Data should not be available to public	32 (35.6)	27 (39.7)	38 (38.0)	8 (28.6)	13 (43.3)	38 (39.2)	21 (34.4)
	Lack of funding	6 (6.70)	6 (8.80)	6 (6.0)	3 (10.7)	3 (10.0)	11 (11.3)	1 (1.60)
	Lack of regulations	39 (43.3)	28 (41.2)	46 (46.0)	10 (35.7)	11 (36.7)	37 (38.1)	30 (49.2)
	No place to deposit the data	8 (8.90)	5 (7.40)	9 (9.0)	2 (7.1)	2 (6.7)	7 (7.20)	6 (9.80)
	P-value	0.835		0.033			0.272
If you were asked to share your data, when would you be willing to share your data?	Before publication	9 (8.0)	1 (1.2)	4 (3.3)	1 (2.8)	5 (13.5)	8 (6.4)	2 (2.9)
	After publication	90 (79.6)	64 (78.0)	96 (78.7)	26 (72.2)	32 (86.5)	97 (77.6)	57 (81.4)
	Not sure	14 (12.4)	17 (20.7)	22 (18.0)	9 (25.0)	0 (0.0)	20 (16.0)	11 (15.7)
	P-value	0.043		0.005			0.553
In your opinion, research data should be available to which of the following sectors?	Academic	8 (7.1)	11 (13.4)	11 (9.0)	6 (16.7)	2 (5.4)	14 (11.2)	5 (7.1)
	Industry	17 (15.0)	9 (11.0)	16 (13.1)	5 (13.9)	5 (13.5)	20 (16.0)	6 (8.6)
	Both	82 (72.6)	57 (69.5)	87 (71.3)	24 (66.7)	28 (75.7)	84 (67.2)	55 (78.6)
	I am not sure	6 (5.3)	5 (6.1)	8 (6.6)	1 (2.8)	2 (5.4)	7 (5.6)	4 (5.7)
	P-value	0.447		0.746			0.330

Table 4 Relationship of Academic Rank, Primary Source of Funding, and Discipline of Researcher with Attitude Toward Data Sharing, (Data are Presented as n (%))

Item	Category	The Academic Rank				The Primary Funding Source			Researcher’s Discipline
		Assistant Professor	Associate Professor	MSc Holder/Lecturer	Professor	External/Industry	Institutional	Self	Biology	Medical
Do you make your research data publically available?	No	43 (56.6)	33 (63.5)	8 (26.7)	19 (52.8)	32 (65.3)	45 (45.5)	13 (56.5)	41 (58.6)	26 (50.0)
	Upon Request	30 (39.5)	14 (26.9)	22 (73.3)	16 (44.4)	15 (30.6)	48 (48.5)	9 (39.1)	26 (37.1)	56 (45.2)
	Yes	3 (3.9)	5 (9.6)	0 (0)	1 (2.8)	2 (4.1)	6 (6.1)	1 (4.3)	3 (4.3)	6 (4.8)
	P-value	0.003				0.252			0.514
If no or upon request, why is your data not available to others?	Concerns about future publishing opportunities	0 (0.0)	1 (2.3)	0 (0.0)	1 (3.3)	0 (0.0)	2 (2.6)	0 (0.0)	1 (1.7)	1 (1.0)
	Concerns about data confidentiality	2 (3.1)	2 (4.7)	1 (5.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	3 (3.9)	1 (4.8)	3 (5.1)	2 (2.0)
	Data should not be available to public	21 (32.3)	18 (41.9)	8 (40.0)	12 (40.0)	14 (33.3)	35 (45.5)	6 (28.6)	23 (39.0)	36 (36.4)
	Lack of funding	2 (3.1)	1 (2.3)	4 (20.0)	5 (16.7)	3 (7.1)	8 (10.4)	1 (4.8)	6 (10.2)	6 (6.1)
	Lack of regulations	35 (53.8)	18 (41.9)	3 (15.0)	11 (36.7)	22 (52.4)	23 (29.9)	11 (52.4)	21 (35.6)	46 (46.5)
	No place to deposit the data	5 (7.7)	3 (7.0)	4 (20.0)	1 (3.3)	3 (7.1)	6 (7.8)	2 (9.5)	5 (8.5)	8 (8.1)
	P-value	0.044				0.408			0.675
If you were asked to share your data, when would you be willing to share your data?	Before publication	3 (3.9)	5 (9.6)	1 (3.3)	1 (2.8)	3 (6.1)	5 (5.0)	0 (0.0)	4 (5.7)	6 (4.8)
	After publication	57 (74.0)	39 (75.0)	25 (83.3)	33 (91.7)	40 (81.6)	77 (77.0)	19 (82.6)	55 (78.6)	99 (79.2)
	None	17 (22.1)	8 (15.4)	4 (13.3)	2 (5.6)	6 (12.2)	18 (18.0)	4 (17.4)	11 (15.7)	20 (16.0)
	P-value	0.120				0.102			0.122
In your opinion, research data should be available to which of the following sectors?	Academic	4 (5.2)	5 (9.6)	8 (26.7)	2 (5.6)	2 (4.1)	15 (15.0)	2 (8.7)	10 (14.3)	9 (7.2)
	Industry	10 (13.0)	8 (15.4)	3 (10.0)	5 (13.9)	8 (16.3)	13 (13.0)	2 (8.7)	13 (18.6)	13 (10.4)
	Both	59 (76.6)	35 (67.3)	17 (56.7)	28 (77.8)	34 (69.4)	70 (70.0)	16 (69.6)	44 (62.9)	95 (76.0)
	Neither	4 (5.2)	4 (7.7)	2 (6.7)	1 (2.8)	5 (10.2)	2 (2.0)	3 (13.0)	3 (4.3)	8 (6.4)
	P-value	0.210				0.709			0.962