Evaluating the Current State of Findability and Accessibility of Microplastics Data
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Date
2022-09-16
Authors
Jenkins, Tia
Persaud, Bhaleka
Cowger, Win
Szigeti, Kathy
Roche, Dominique
Clary, Erin
Slowinski, Stephanie
Lei, Benjamin
Abeynayaka, Amila
Nyadjro, Ebenezer
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Waterloo
Abstract
The rapid growth in microplastic pollution research is influencing funding priorities, environmental policy, and public perceptions of risks to water quality and environmental and human health. Ensuring that environmental microplastics research data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) is essential to inform policy and mitigation strategies. We present a bibliographic analysis of data sharing practices in the environmental microplastics research community, highlighting the state of openness of microplastics data. A stratified (by year) random subset of 785 of 6,608 microplastics articles indexed in Web of Science indicates that, since 2006, less than a third (28.5%) contained a data sharing statement. These statements further show that most often, the data were provided in the articles’ supplementary material (38.8%) and only 13.8% via a data repository. Of the 279 microplastics datasets found in online data repositories, 20.4% presented only metadata with access to the data requiring additional approval. Although increasing, the rate of microplastic data sharing still lags behind that of publication of peer-reviewed articles on environmental microplastics. About a quarter of the repository data originated from North America (12.8%) and Europe (13.4%). Marine and estuarine environments are the most frequently sampled systems (26.2%); sediments (18.8%) and water (15.3%) are the predominant media. Of the available datasets accessible, 15.4% and 18.2% do not have adequate metadata to determine the sampling location and media type, respectively. We discuss five recommendations to strengthen data sharing practices in the environmental microplastic research community.
Read more at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.912107/full
Description
Tia Jenkins1, Bhaleka D. Persaud1, Win Cowger2, Kathy Szigeti3, Dominique G. Roche4,5, Erin Clary6, Stephanie Slowinski1, Benjamin Lei1, Amila Abeynayaka7, Ebenezer S. Nyadjro8,9, Thomas Maes10, Leah Thornton Hampton11, Melanie Bergmann12, Julian Aherne13, Sherri A. Mason14, John F. Honek15, Fereidoun Rezanezhad1, Amy L. Lusher16, Andy M. Booth17, Rodney D. L. Smith15 and Philippe Van Cappellen1.
Affiliations:
1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
2 Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research, Long Beach, CA, United States
3 Davis Centre Library, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
4 Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
5 Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
6 Digital Research Alliance of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
7 Institute for Global Environment Strategies (IGES), Kanagawa, Japan
8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), Stennis Space Center, Starkville, MS, United States
9 Northern Gulf Institute, Mississippi State University, Stennis Space Center, Starkville, MS, United States
10 GRID-Arendal, Arendal, Norway
11 Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP), Costa Mesa, CA, United States
12 Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum fĂĽr Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
13 School of Environment, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada
14 The Behrend College, Pennsylvania State University, Erie, PA, United States
15 Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
16 Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway
17 SINTEF Ocean, Trondheim, Norway
Keywords
microplastics, bibliometric analysis, data repository, data availability statement, data management, data sharing, environmental research, plastic