Figure 1.

Publication Process of Research Data Sample. The data-publication process (inspired by Gray et al. [11]) expresses the different manifestations of research data. At the top layer of the process, the journal, author, or scientist takes full responsibility for the publication, including the aggregated data embedded in it and the way the data is presented. For data published in the second layer, as supplementary files to articles, the link to the published “Record of Science” remains strong; but it is not always clear at what level the data is curated and preserved and if the criteria for discoverability and re-usability are met. At the Data Collections and Structured Database layer, the publication includes a citation and links to the data; but the data resides in and is the responsibility of a separate repository. At the bottom layer, most datasets remain unpublished and are consequently not accessible for later reanalysis.