Many NIH institutes have also begun requiring genetic researchers to deposit their data into archives accessible by other researchers. Some fear that this will allow mavericks to analyze data collected by someone else, and take credit for all the work. NIH institutes have tried to give the original researchers room to maneuver. NIMH, for one, allows researchers to set their own time limits in data sharing plans submitted with their grant applications. If researchers have no incentive to do the hard work up front, in the future they won't do these studies.
Some researchers chafe at the idea.
By building something together, everyone will be more productive. While funding agency administrators tend to agree that researchers should be given as much control as possible over their data, they note that taxpayers actually own research funded by the federal government. Others believe fears over data misuse or misinterpretation are misguided. For one thing, notes Ronald Abeles, PhD, special assistant to the director of the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, the original investigator is not responsible for shoddy work by a secondary investigator. Poor research by secondary analysts will hurt their reputation and not that of the original investigator.