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 3.21. The key challenge for publishers as well as for others concerned in the effective communication of research is how to handle the increasingly complex relationships between the books, articles and other publications on the one hand, and the data that underlies the findings that those publications present on the other; and how to ensure that they are presented and made accessible in an integrated way.

3.22. Most scholarly publishers accept that data and publications belong together. The relationship between them is sometimes presented as a pyramid with a broad base of raw data and data sets, on the basis of which researchers construct a smaller set of structured data collections and databases, then processed data and data representations, and topped off with the relatively small amount of data (typically in the form of small tables and charts) that is contained within the publication itself. Journal publishers increasingly link from articles to relevant data stored elsewhere, and some enable readers to interact with and edit data presented in the article itself. Journals have also seen a dramatic increase in the past five years in the amount of supplementary material presented to them along with articles in the traditional format. For some this has become a growing problem, with the supplementary material exceeding in volume the articles themselves, and presenting problems in peer review and quality assurance.

3.23. Publishers have an important role to play in making more of the data that researchers produce more readily available for others to peruse and re-use. Some are already introducing stricter policies requiring authors to make underlying data available, along with advice on reliable and trustworthy data archives. Some are also enhancing articles to provide better integration with underlying data; ensuring that data have persistent identifiers to underpin effective two-way links between data and publications; and helping to promote guidelines for the proper citation of data. There is also scope for much more effective co-operation between publishers and data centres to facilitate integration between data and publications, including support for full interactivity when readers wish to re-use data; and for the publication of data journals that describe data sets and data methods. In an ideal world, there would be closer integration between the text and the data presented in journal articles, with seamless links to interactive datasets; a consequent fall in the amount of supplementary material; and two-way links, with interactive viewers, between publications and relevant data held in data archives. The availability of, and access to, publications and associated data would then become fully integrated and seamless, with both feeding off each other.