Author: Patricia A. Soranno, Kendra S. Cheruvelil, Kevin C. Elliott, Georgina M. Montgomery
Publisher: National Library of Medicine
Publication Year: 2015
Summary: The following article discusses how as data-sharing policies and ethics have become more prevalent in the sciences, the field of environmental sciences has not really caught up. This article further describes how in order for environmental science to be a more inclusive field, the scientists need to make the datasets that are serving as a basis for their decisions publicly available. These scientists have voiced concerns over the difficulty of sharing data online, the fear of others stealing their work, and the lack of focus on the importance of transparency in their field. The article counters that making the practice of sharing data common will actually protect the scientists most at risk of those fears: those in their early career, those from communities with less scientific advancement, and those from the “global south.” The article argues for a “round-table model” when it comes to the interaction between environmental scientists, the public, and policymakers. This model is more transparent and has a stronger focus on data ethics, rather than the previous “deficit-linear model”.