Unraveling the story behind challenges with journal data sharing requirements: an Open Pharma survey

Poster presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), April 29–May 1, 2024, Washington, DC, USA

Objective

Open sharing of patient-level data is increasingly mandated and/or recommended to increase research transparency and reproducibility, and to allow readers to understand the full story of the research project. We conducted the first global survey among pharma and publication professionals on journal data sharing requirements to assess whether anecdotal reports of challenges implementing journal policies reflected a wider and more complex reality for pharma-sponsored research.

Research design and methods

The survey was designed by the Open Pharma data sharing working group and critically reviewed by the ISMPP Global Transparency and Trends Committee. It was disseminated by Open Pharma and ISMPP via email/social media between 12 April–31 May 2023. Eligible respondents were anyone involved in either submitting pharma-sponsored research for publication or fulfilling journal data sharing requirements.

Results

Among 101 participants, 83 were pharmaceutical/biotech/device company employees. Most respondents (73%) supported strong open research policies in principle; only 7% viewed them as an unqualified advantage. Despite broad open research support, most respondents (79%) reported challenges complying with data sharing requirements for all study/data types queried. Respondents agreed/strongly agreed that data ownership (84%), multi-platform data‑linking (79%), intellectual property (67%), patient privacy (66%), and patient consent (63%) can present challenges, and that such challenges can delay timely research publication (83%).

Conclusions

This is the first formal assessment of the scale and nature of challenges associated with journal data sharing requirements for pharma-funded research publications. We confirmed majority support among respondents of open data science policies in principle, but showed a clear need for dialogue between pharmaceutical and publisher stakeholders to facilitate policy implementation.