Open data for better science

The past two decades have seen increasing interests in open data. Many scientists believe that the original research data should be properly organized and opened to the public and researchers throughout the world, and, once the open-data strategies are put into practice, the entire scientific research enterprise could be transformed. Driven by the trend of data sharing many platforms and repositories have been established. Universities, funding agencies and academic journals are also taking an active role in facilitating data sharing. In this forum discussion organized by National Science Review and chaired by Jianhui Li, panelists from diverse backgrounds who have all participated in the development of open data gathered together and talked about the recent progress and future directions of open data. Chenzhou Cui Chief Information Officer of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Xiangdong Fang Professor at Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Mark Musen Director of the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research, Stanford University, California, USA Lydia Pintscher Product manager of Wikidata, Wikimedia Deutschland, Berlin, Germany Beth Plale Director of Data to Insight Center, Professor of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA Paul Uhlir Consultant, Information Policy and Management, New York, USA; Formerly Director of the Board on Research Data and Information, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, USA Jianhui Li (Chair) Professor at Computer Network Information Centre, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China