Ten reasons to contribute data to the WWARN project:
1. Data sharing advances scientific knowledge
Combining data across countries and time will be the only way to track effectively the emergence and spread of antimalarial drug resistance, leading to improved health policy and effective malaria control and containment measures.
2. Data sharing saves limited resources
With more data mining and less duplication of effort, scientists will be able to understand more complex issues, like antimalarial resistance, faster and more cost-effectively.
3. Combining data sets increases their overall value
Pooling studies increases sample sizes, so that subtle trends or sub-population effects can be identified with higher statistical certainty. For example drug efficacy in children or pregnant women or in areas of low transmission can be more efficiently understood.
4. A standardised approach is more efficient
We currently accept data files in any format. By transforming submitted data to a common format, WWARN facilitates meta-analyses that may uncover previously unseen trends.
5. Access data analysis tools
Study data, transformed to the WWARN format, can be queried using WWARN Explorer, an interactive tool that links to a repository of over a hundred studies (and counting), displaying the results using dynamic, interactive maps.
6. Network with the malaria community
WWARN Explorer identifies study investigators, so researchers working in the same geographic or scientific areas can network to extend their circles of collaborators. The common format of data in the database facilitates collaboration with others who have contributed data.
7. Data analysis tools facilitate data presentation
For scientists, new collaborations and data analysis tools can support publication and applications for future grant funding.
8. Benefit from increased security
With advanced informatics capabilities, security and encryption, WWARN offers a safe location to store submitted data, accessible from any location worldwide.
9. Meet data sharing obligations
Funders of public health research, like the Wellcome Trust and the US National Institutes of Health, increasingly require grantees to specify how data will be shared. Journals may make data sharing a condition of publication. WWARN offers a secure data repository and a rapid, effective route to sharing top-line results to meet this imperative – subject to contributor approval.
10. Data sharing increases accountability and transparency
By enabling scientists to validate each other’s findings, policy makers gain reassurance and trust in study outcomes.
