‘Today, most research projects are considered complete when a journal article based on the analysis has been written and published. The trouble is, the amount of real data and data description in modern publications is almost never sufficient to repeat or even statistically verify a study being presented. Worse, researchers wishing to build upon and extend work presented in the literature often have trouble recovering data associated with an article after it has been published. More often than scientists would like to admit, they cannot even recover the data associated with their own published works.

So how do we go about caring for and feeding data? This article offers a short guide to the steps scientists can take to ensure that their data and associated analyses continue to be of value and to be recognized.’

http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003542