ArticleEcology and evolution2021
The data-index: An author-level metric that values impactful data and incentivizes data sharing.
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- The flounder effect: disparities in taxonomic and ecological study intensity across extant and fossil marine organisms hamper conservation.npj biodiversity · 2026Review
- How does academia recognize the contribution of scientific data? Evidence from data contributors' authorship.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Identifying genomic data use with the Data Citation Explorer.Scientific data · 2024Article
- Review
- Incentivising open ecological data using blockchain technology.Scientific data · 2023Article
- Slow improvement to the archiving quality of open datasets shared by researchers in ecology and evolution.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- The data-index: An author-level metric that values impactful data and incentivizes data sharing.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Motivating data contributions via a distinct career currency.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Data sharing and data governance in sub-Saharan Africa: Perspectives from researchers and scientists engaged in data-intensive research.South African journal of scienceArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Author-level metrics are a widely used measure of scientific success. The h-index and its variants measure publication output (number of publications) and research impact (number of citations). They are often used to influence decisions, such as allocating funding or jobs. Here, we argue that the emphasis on publication output and impact hinders scientific progress in the fields of ecology and evolution because it disincentivizes two fundamental practices: generating impactful (and therefore often long-term) datasets and sharing data. We describe a new author-level metric, the data-index, which values both dataset output (number of datasets) and impact (number of data-index citations), so promotes generating and sharing data as a result. We discuss how it could be implemented and provide user guidelines. The data-index is designed to complement other metrics of scientific success, as scientific contributions are diverse and our value system should reflect that both for the benefit of scientific progress and to create a value system that is more equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Future work should focus on promoting other scientific contributions, such as communicating science, informing policy, mentoring other scientists, and providing open-access code and tools.
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Registered trials
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.