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Data sharing in public health emergencies: a call to researchers - February 5, 2016

sharon sanders

sharon sanders

Editor-in-Chief & President
[h=1]Data sharing in public health emergencies: a call to researchers[/h] [h=2]Christopher Dye,a Kidist Bartolomeos,a Vasee Moorthyb & Marie Paule Kienyc[/h] a. Department of Strategy, Policy and Information, World Health Organization, avenue Appia 20, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland.
b. Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
c. Health Systems and Innovation Cluster, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Bulletin of the World Health Organization doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.16.170860
Data are the basis for public health action, and rapid data sharing is critical during an unfolding health emergency.1,2 The information disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and accompanying online data sets is vital for decision-makers. 1
The deficiencies with existing data-sharing mechanisms, which were highlighted during the 2013?16 Ebola epidemic in west Africa, have brought the question of data access to the forefront of the global health agenda.2 In September 2015, agreement was reached on the need for open sharing of data and results, especially in public health emergencies.3 Subsequently, following published expressions of support by its members, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) have explicitly confirmed that pre-publication dissemination of information critical to public health will not prejudice journal publication in the context of a public health emergency declared by WHO.4 While efforts so far have focused on results from clinical trials, and on making full accompanying data sets available at the time of publication, there are further opportunities to expand access to information from observational studies, operational research, routine surveillance and the monitoring of disease control programmes.
To improve timely access to data in the context of a public health emergency, theBulletin of the World Health Organization will implement a new data sharing and reporting protocol. The protocol is established specifically to address the data gap that exists in responding to the current Zika virus epidemic and, in the first instance, will apply only to articles submitted in the context of this outbreak.
On submission to the Bulletin, all research manuscripts relevant to the Zika epidemic will be assigned a digital object identifier and posted online in the ?Zika Open? collection within 24 hours while undergoing peer review. The data in these papers will thus be attributed to the authors while being freely available for reader scrutiny and unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited as indicated by the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organizations (CC BY IGO 3.0) licence. Should a paper be accepted by the Bulletin following peer review, this open access review period will be reported in the final publication. In the event that a paper does not survive peer review, and the rapidly evolving knowledge basis on this disease, authors will be free to seek publication elsewhere. If the authors of any paper posted with the Bulletin in this context are unable to obtain acceptance with a suitable journal, WHO undertakes to publish these papers in its institutional repository as citable working papers, independently of the Bulletin. This early access to research manuscripts at WHO builds on examples of other rapid information access platforms such as PROMED and F1000Research.5,6
Given the number and complexity of unanswered questions on the mechanisms and consequences of Zika infection and associated disease, our goal is to encourage all researchers to share their data as quickly and widely as possible. With this protocol for immediate online posting, we are providing another means to achieve immediate global access to relevant data. Researchers can thus share their data while meeting their need to retain authorship, achieve precedence, and put their research on public record. We are pleased to announce that the first paper to which this protocol applies is now available online.7
[h=4]References[/h]
http://www.who.int/bulletin/online_first/16-170860/en/
 
Editorial

Don't wait to share data on Zika

During public health emergencies, such as the current increase in microcephaly and neurological syndromes potentially associated with the Zika virus outbreak, a rapid and coordinated response necessitates the immediate sharing of data. Nature Microbiology policy is fully aligned with this imperative.
...
An important part of a coordinated response will be for researchers and authorities in countries affected by Zika virus to publish all epidemiological and clinical data as soon as they are gathered and analysed4,5. There are some genuine barriers to the immediate publication of data that need to be overcome, including concerns over patient privacy or limited access to technology or personnel in resources-poor settings. Unfortunately, many researchers also remain fearful about making data immediately publically available for re-use by others owing to the competition to publish first and the perception that journals will consider a prior data release to impact novelty. During public health emergencies, failing to make data and analysis immediately available is to the detriment of a coordinated response, the result of which can be measured in increased morbidity and mortality.

Let us be clear here then. As has been the long-standing policy on other Nature research journals6,7, the editors of Nature Microbiology encourage the deposition in appropriate repositories and immediate release of all data, no matter the topic of the work, public-health-related or otherwise. This will not impact our editorial decision on whether or not to consider a manuscript for publication. We also encourage authors to share their initial analyses by posting a manuscript in a preprint repository, such as bioRxiv (http://biorxiv.org/). Again, this will not affect whether or not we will consider a manuscript for publication. Indeed, despite this being only our third issue, we have already published two papers8,9 for which preprints are available10,11. For manuscripts submitted to us that relate to an on-going public health emergency, such as Zika, if at the time of submission the data has not been made available, we will strongly encourage authors to release the data immediately rather than waiting until a paper is ready for publication. Furthermore, Nature journals have agreed to make all papers published relating to Zika virus free to access until further notice, ensuring that there are no barriers preventing the release and dissemination of data and analysis during the ongoing public health emergency12.
...

http://www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol201628
 
Zika virus initiative reveals deeper malady in scientific publishing

Tuesday 16 February 2016 06.54 EST
Stephen Curry

Moves to speed up the release of Zika virus research in response to the public health crisis highlight a systemic failure in scientific publishing. Help could be at hand at the ASAPbio meeting today in the USA

In response to the rapid spread of Zika virus across Central and South America, now declared to be an international public health emergency by the World Health Organisation, a consortium of research funders, institutes and publishers have committed to sharing data and results relevant to the crisis “as rapidly and openly as possible.”
This is a very positive move by an array of influential organisations that includes the Wellcome Trust, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, M?decins Sans Frontiers, the US National Institute of Health, the Chinese Academy of Science and leading publishers such as the Public Library of Science and Springer Nature.

The consortium has declared that:

The arguments for sharing data, and the consequences of not doing so, have been thrown into stark relief by the Ebola and Zika outbreaks.
In the context of a public health emergency of international concern, there is an imperative on all parties to make any information available that might have value in combatting the crisis.
​
These are strong words and should lead to practical action. Funders are charged with ensuring that the researchers they support will publish their “quality-assured interim and final data as rapidly and widely as possible”. This will make their results available for assimilation and use before they have been submitted to a journal, temporarily bypassing the traditional and often protracted business of peer review. In turn, journal signatories have undertaken to make all Zika research free to access and not to penalise Zika researchers for having released their data early by disqualifying their manuscripts from review and future publication.

more...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/...lishing-malady
 
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