Top science body calls for open access to research data to maximise their potential for public good

The move towards open access to research findings needs to be supported by an open data policy to ensure data are fully exploited by researchers for the public good, says a report from the UK’s most influential science organisation the Royal Society.

The report, Science as an Open Enterprise, makes 10 recommendations on how to stimulate collaboration between researchers to ensure data are mined in new and creative ways and that the original research the data was collected for is reproducible. It follows the government commissioned Finch report last week which recognised the benefits of open access to research findings for furthering research and looked at how to achieve this and the estimated costs.1 2

Geoffrey Boulton, …