What is research data “misuse”? And how can it be prevented or mitigated?

Research data fuels scientific discovery, collaboration, and innovation. But as data sharing becomes easier and more widespread, the question arises: when does use become misuse?

This study examines what counts as research data “misuse” and how it can be prevented or mitigated. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature and cases, we identify how data can go wrong in practice—ranging from methodological errors and misinterpretation to unauthorized reuse, privacy harms, and manipulative presentation—and we outline concrete strategies to reduce these risks through better documentation, governance, curation, and community norms.

For more details and full description of the research context, methods, findings, and discussions, please refer to our full paper by Irene V. Pasquetto, Zoë Natalia Cullen, Andrea K. Thomer, and Morgan Wofford, published in the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), 2024.

Read the full paper

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