The importance of effective data sharing and reuse to funders and others supporting research

Key points Wellcome requires grantees to submit and maintain an Outputs Management Plan, the quality of which have improved over time. To stimulate re-use of data, the Wellcome Data Re-use Prizes were launched in 2018. The Wellcome prizes did not receive the volume of submissions expected, one possible reason being the lack of clarity about the time required to produce a worthy entry. Researchers identify publishers as the source relied upon to make data open, and there are steps publishers can take to help. However, there is also a role for funders to unlock the potential of data.