Every day, researchers are collecting, compiling, and analysing data about the ocean.

More often than not, that data, the workflows for the analysis, are hidden. Their existence, only known about thanks to scientific papers that are published talking about the research for which these data and workflows were used.

Publishing papers in open access - paying to publish so that the paper is accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime, for free - is gaining a lot of traction. But what about that data and those workflows - the “data science”?

Rather than leaving these elements languishing on your hard drive, collecting virtual dust, why not make them open, too? Is it time for the marine sciences to welcome open data science?

University of California researchers Alexa Fredston and Julia Stewart Lowndes have recently published a very interesting read on this very subject. They are very clear from the outset that open data science should be embraced by the marine science community for several reasons:

🧮 Data is super-important for understanding the ocean, marine life, sustainability, conservation, decision-making… but if data is hidden or only used for a single purpose (i.e., publishing one paper), are we really getting the most out of that data?

🫱🏽‍🫲🏿 It builds and promotes community. Ok, so you might be thinking this is a bit silly, but as the authors note, the fields of ecology and geosciences aren’t winning any diversity and inclusion awards. Sure, there have been good strides, but there is still far to go. Something they don’t really mention but I think is worth adding is that access to data and other aspects of data science isn’t equitable across the world, and that only serves to hamper knowledge.

The researchers look at reusing data and contributing data, as well as software and coding needs for open data science. They also look at the current scientific publishing system and the “award system” in academia and how those elements don’t help the growth open science as a whole.

Curious to know more?

Read the open-access paper Fredston, A. L., & Lowndes, J. S. S. (2024). Welcoming More Participation in Open Data Science for the Oceans. Annual Review of Marine Science, 16, 537-549 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-041723-094741