Transparency for Whom? Participants' Informed Consent in the Era of Open Data
Abstract
Open data can extend the use of participants’ information far beyond the study for which it was collected, making informed consent for data sharing an important part of research transparency. We examined whether psychology journals that promote open data address this issue in their guidelines and whether articles sharing data report relevant information about consent. We reviewed the websites of 83 journals identified through the TOP Factor list and examined 196 empirical articles sharing data, published in 2024–2025. No journal provided explicit guidance on obtaining consent specifically for sharing participants’ data on open platforms; four required authors to report consent for secondary data use when applicable. Only seven articles (3.57%) provided information connecting informed consent to data sharing, and in six cases this information was identifiable only in repository materials. These findings reveal a transparency gap: consent for data sharing is rarely made explicit in journal guidance or research reports, even when data are openly shared. We recommend clearer communication with participants about data sharing, more detailed reporting and sharing of consent materials, and stronger guidance from journals and institutions.
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BibTeX
@misc{zambelli2026transparency,
title = {{Transparency for Whom? Participants' Informed Consent in the Era of Open Data}},
author = {Michela Zambelli and Rossella Caliciuri and Giulia Moncalieri and Angela Sorgente},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/7tkxa_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/7tkxa_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Transparency for Whom? Participants' Informed Consent in the Era of Open Data
AU - Michela Zambelli
AU - Rossella Caliciuri
AU - Giulia Moncalieri
AU - Angela Sorgente
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/7tkxa_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/7tkxa_v1/
AB - Open data can extend the use of participants’ information far beyond the study for which it was collected, making informed consent for data sharing an important part of research transparency. We examined whether psychology journals that promote open data address this issue in their guidelines and whether articles sharing data report relevant information about consent. We reviewed the websites of 83 journals identified through the TOP Factor list and examined 196 empirical articles sharing data, published in 2024–2025. No journal provided explicit guidance on obtaining consent specifically for sharing participants’ data on open platforms; four required authors to report consent for secondary data use when applicable. Only seven articles (3.57%) provided information connecting informed consent to data sharing, and in six cases this information was identifiable only in repository materials. These findings reveal a transparency gap: consent for data sharing is rarely made explicit in journal guidance or research reports, even when data are openly shared. We recommend clearer communication with participants about data sharing, more detailed reporting and sharing of consent materials, and stronger guidance from journals and institutions.
ER -