Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33024631›Full record

ArticlePeerJ2020

The reuse of public datasets in the life sciences: potential risks and rewards.

Katharina Sielemann, Alenka Hafner, Boas Pucker

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PeerJ, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. The future is FAIR: a community framework for enhanced data management and data sharing.Database : the journal of biological databases and curation · 2026
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Dementia Data Landscape 1. Cohorts.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Researchers' perceptions of the trustworthiness, for reuse purposes, of government health data in Victoria, Australia: Implications for policy and practice.Health information management : journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia · 2025
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
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  18. Review
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  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Katharina Sielemann *Genetics and Genomics of Plants, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) & Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-4022-8531
Alenka Hafner *Genetics and Genomics of Plants, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) & Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-4262-9176
Boas PuckerGenetics and Genomics of Plants, Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) & Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-3321-7471

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The 'big data' revolution has enabled novel types of analyses in the life sciences, facilitated by public sharing and reuse of datasets. Here, we review the prodigious potential of reusing publicly available datasets and the associated challenges, limitations and risks. Possible solutions to issues and research integrity considerations are also discussed. Due to the prominence, abundance and wide distribution of sequencing data, we focus on the reuse of publicly available sequence datasets. We define 'successful reuse' as the use of previously published data to enable novel scientific findings. By using selected examples of successful reuse from different disciplines, we illustrate the enormous potential of the practice, while acknowledging the respective limitations and risks. A checklist to determine the reuse value and potential of a particular dataset is also provided. The open discussion of data reuse and the establishment of this practice as a norm has the potential to benefit all stakeholders in the life sciences.

Indexed as

BioinformaticsComputational biologyDatabasesData scienceGenomicsOpen scienceReuseSequencing data

Identifiers

PMID33024631
PMCPMC7518187

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.