Box 6: Journal Policies

Sharing data, code, and other materials is quickly moving from “desired” to “required”. For example, PLOS’s sharing policy (journals.plos.org/plosone/s/materials-and-software-sharing) already says, “We expect that all researchers submitting to PLOS will make all relevant materials that may be reasonably requested by others available without restrictions upon publication of the work.” Its policy on software is more specific:

We expect that all researchers submitting to PLOS submissions in which software is the central part of the manuscript will make all relevant software available without restrictions upon publication of the work. Authors must ensure that software remains usable over time regardless of versions or upgrades…

It then goes on to specify that software must be based on open source standards, and that it must be put in an archive which is large or long-lived. Granting agencies, philanthropic foundations, and other major sponsors of scientific research are all moving in the same direction, and to our knowledge, none has relaxed or reduced sharing requirements in the last decade.