When the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine warned in January that some scientists thought that sharing data would lead to “research parasites” — a subspecies of researchers who gained unearned glory off the backs of their hard-working colleagues — they earned heaps of scorn from the scientific community.
The esteemed journal is at it again, however. A new editorial, from a group of more than 280 researchers in more than 30 countries, argued that science is moving too hastily in the direction of open data, a headlong and thoughtless dash that, they predict portentously, will retard progress and jeopardize human health.
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