ACS Chemistry Databank

Researchers often want to reproduce the work of others to enhance their own research. But this can be inhibited by a lack of access to the original data from those prior experiments.

To reduce these barriers, and enable implementation of ACS research data policies, the ACS Chemistry Databank repository allows researchers to voluntarily deposit the original data from their research. The CDB is powered by the Dryad open data publishing platform. Authors and readers of papers published in Organic Letters will be the first to benefit from ACS Chemistry Databank.

The data will be reviewed and curated as part of the overall review process for a manuscript. The data publishing process will not affect the outcome or timing of manuscript publishing process. The final curated data sets will gain a citable DOI to ensure they becomes part of the formal scientific record. Other researchers can then use the data to inform their work and easily cite the prior research using this DOI.

ACS Chemistry Databank has a simple process to share data:

1. Authors can indicate their wish to share data when they submit their draft manuscript to Organic Letters.
2. They will be requested to submit their data if a revised manuscript is requested after peer review.
3. A link to ACS Chemistry Databank will then allow them to upload their data with appropriate metadata to describe the content.
4. The data will be curated, and revisions requested before final publication on ACS Chemistry Databank.

The metadata will make the data easier to discover and help new researchers to use and apply it properly in their work.

Experimental data is complex. It can be generated by many experimental methods and analytical modalities. ACS Chemistry Databank will enable organic chemists to share a broad range of analytical (NMR, IR, HPLC, mass spectrometry etc.) and other data produced in their research. Over time, ACS Chemistry Databank will extend to other organic chemistry journals, then evolve to support more data types for other scientific communities.

Scientific progress is built on the work of others. By providing access to original data, ACS Chemistry Databank will amplify science and allow researchers to gain more credit for their work.