Linking and lightening: New partnership connects and reveals dark data

Sharing and reuse of data has become a vital part of modern scientific research. Having access to datasets ensures that the pace of scientific discovery is not unnecessarily hindered by data being kept under lock and key or hidden away in lab drawers.

BioMed Central, a long supporter of data sharing and the open data movement has now partnered with LabArchives, LLC to shed further light on science's "dark data". Through this new collaboration, authors submitting articles to selected BioMed Central journals will be provided with complimentary subscriptions to an enhanced version of the popular LabArchives Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) software.

LabArchives provides a powerful yet simple-to-use platform which scientists can utilize to store and publish their laboratory data. The special BioMed Central version of LabArchives will provide authors with 100Mb of complimentary storage and optional integrated submission to BioMed Central's journals. Published datasets can be assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which serves as a permanent identifier for a data set, making data more discoverable and citable, helping to enable scientists to get credit for publishing their data and permanently link journal articles to supporting data.

"As more scientists would like to share data beyond what can practically be included within the confines of a traditional paper, they require easily accessible technological solutions that enable them to achieve this important goal," said Earl B. Beutler, President and CEO of LabArchives, LLC. "LabArchives is proud to partner with BioMed Central, a true pioneer and a leader in open access publishing, in bringing this service to the scientific community."

Speaking of the partnership Iain Hrynaszkiewicz, Journal Publisher at BioMed Central said, "For large datasets which cannot be accommodated within journal articles or additional files, data repositories such as LabArchives, which can assure permanence of published data, are a natural partner for BioMed Central's journals. We are really looking forward to working with our authors and LabArchives to help scientists gain more credit for sharing their data; make even more scientific data available for reuse; and help enhance the scientific record."

Provided by BioMed Central