Developing a data sharing community for spinal cord injury research

The spinal cord injury (SCI) research field has a history of collaborative initiatives that include sharing of preclinical research models and outcome measures. A workshop was hosted to examine the current landscape for data sharing in SCI research and provide a path to its future. This manuscript shares initial findings from the workshop with the broader research community, providing talking points for continued feedback as the field moves forward with data sharing.

• 1
  Preclinical spinal cord injury researchers are open to data sharing, but only about 10% of workshop attendees currently share data online.
• 2
  Data collection and storage logistics, along with personnel training, pose challenges to data sharing within the SCI research community.
• 3
  Researchers prioritize scientific discovery and compliance with journal/funder requirements as incentives for data sharing, more so than increased citations of papers and datasets.