Science Special Issue: Dealing with Data

The February 11th (2011) issue of the journal, Science, has a special focus, Dealing with Data. Articles from this issue, augmented by others appearing in Science Signaling, Science Translational Medicine, and Science Careers, have been collected and made freely available. With scientific innovation increasingly recognized as central in dealing with such important societal issues as climate change and global public health, to name just two, greater accountability and transparency are required of the sciences, with better management and access to data recognized as central to achieving these goals. In addition to the need for improved access to data, articles over a range of scientific disciplines speak to the need for intelligent archiving decisions, given the deluge of data and the impossibility now of storing it all. There is a call for leadership on these issues from funders, societies, journals, educators, and individual scientists—and from society at large. The costs of losing data are tremendous, just as the opportunities in better management and availability are great.