Scientific Data Reuse Survey, United States, 2015

This study explores the factors that influence the data reuse behaviors of scientists and identifies the generalized patterns that occur in data reuse across various disciplines. An online survey was distributed to the scientists through Qualtrics. The initial email invitation to the survey was sent to 15,703 scientists within academic institutions on October 5, 2015, with a reminder sent on November 10, 2015. The survey closed on November 30, 2015. 1,987 email messages (12.65%) were returned and a total of 13,716 participants (87.35%) received the email invitation to participate in the survey. This research used the National Science Foundation (NSF) STEM discipline codes (2014) for the respondents to indicate their specific academic disciplines based on their current research activities. Of these participants, 1,528 scientists from 94 specific disciplines (as categorized by NSF STEM discipline codes (2014)), completed the survey with less than 5% of missing values.