What is the right format for my data? Just look it up!

BioMed Central works to support initiatives aimed at promoting transparency and reproducibility in research, and they strongly encourage data sharing and publication. They have developed improved article features and resources to better link journal articles to underlying data, and related standards to facilitate academic credit for data sharing.

Their latest blog on "Availability of supporting data’: crediting transparency and enhancing the literature" strengthen the role of the BioSharing catalogue...... "And what is the right format for my data? To help maximize potential for data reuse and increase the efficiency of science, shared data should be made available in formats that are widely agreed by the relevant scientific field – data standards. BMC Research Notes launched an initiative in 2010 to promote the awareness and use of data standards, and subsequently partnered with the BioSharing to achieve this shared goal. Journals that introduce the ‘Availability of supporting data’ section’ encourage authors to comply with available field-specific standards for the preparation and recording of data. We recommend authors check the BioSharing catalogue for information on best practice in their field for sharing of data, with particular attention to maintaining patient confidentiality."