Data sharing by biologists: A comparative study of genome sequence data and lab experiment data

Whether biologists share data depends on data type. This study employed an integrated theoretical framework combining theory of planned behavior and institutional theory to investigate individual motivations, technological resources, and institutional pressures affecting data sharing intentions between biologists depending on whether they were sharing genome sequence data or regular lab experiment data. A series of statistical analyses including principal component factor analysis, hierarchical regression, and independent sample t-test were conducted on a total of 342 survey responses from biologists. The results suggest that biologists' data sharing intentions are influenced by individual motivations, technological resources, and institutional pressures, and that the intensities of those factors are considerably different for genome sequence data and lab experiment data. This study suggests that data sharing by biologists varies depending on the type of data they produce, and that different policies and technological supports should be applied to facilitate the sharing of diverse biological data types.