A response to Poisot et al.: Publishing your dataset is not always virtuous

Abstract

Poisot et al. (2013) present an interesting paper that extols the benefits of researchers making their data publicly accessible. We absolutely agree that making your own primary data publically available is a virtuous, helpful, positive thing to do, and should be encouraged. However, we believe that Poisot et al. (2013) have overlooked two important factors: 1) the ethics of publishing data that were gathered by other people, and 2) the potential for enforced data release to actually slow our progress in science by removing incentives for scientists to undertake large data compilation efforts.