DOI: 10.3886/e105060v1
title: Biological Scientists' Data Sharing Survey

description: This research examines the factors affecting biological scientists' data sharing. The online survey was conducted with the scientists who are registered as biological scientists in the CoS scholar database. Among 90 thousand scientists registered under the main discipline of biological sciences in the U.S., we randomly selected a total of 8,000 potential survey participants. Throughout the survey distribution, 2,014 messages were returned or were not delivered correctly due to invalid email addresses or spam filters. Therefore, a total of 5,986 messages were delivered to any potential survey participants. Among those responses, we excluded any responses missing more than 20% of answers in the online survey; therefore, we only have 680 valid responses.
description: No weight method was used.
description: Response Rates: A total of 5,986 messages were delivered to any
potential survey participants. Among those responses, we excluded any responses
missing more than 20% of answers in the online survey; therefore, we only have 680
valid responses. This indicates that an 11.36% response rate (680/5,986=0.1136).
The response rate calculated based on the total survey was distributed via
survey distribution system.
description: Presence of Common Scales: This research employed 5-point Likert scales ranging from “Strongly Disagree”, “Disagree”, “Neither Disagree nor Agree”, “Agree”, and “Strongly Agree” for the most of items measuring biological scientists’ diverse perceptions toward data sharing. Each construct was measured with multiple items.
description: web-based survey~~The online survey was conducted with the scientists
who are registered as biological scientists in the CoS scholar database. Among 90
thousand scientists registered under the main discipline of biological sciences
in the U.S., we randomly selected a total of 8,000 potential survey
participants. The first message with the survey link was distributed on early
November 2016. Then, three reminders were distributed on late November and
mid-December 2016 and late January 2017 (the final reminder). The online survey
was closed on mid-February, 2017. Throughout the survey distribution, 2,014
messages were returned or were not delivered correctly due to invalid email
addresses or spam filters. Therefore, a total of 5,986 messages were delivered
to any potential survey participants. Among those responses, we excluded any
responses missing more than 20% of answers in the online survey; therefore, we
only have 680 valid responses.
description: Biological scientists in U.S. academic institutions in late 2016 and early 2017Smallest Geographic Unit: U.S.
description: We used the Community of Scientists’ (CoS) scholar database
to randomly select potential survey participants. As of October 31, 2016 there
were 90,574 biological scientists registered under the category of natural
sciences (defined by CoS). The permission from the ProQuest Pivot, which owns
the CoS scholar database, was sought before we selected the potential survey
participants from its scholar database, and the IRB (Institutional Review
Board) approval was obtained from the principal investigator’s academic institution.