As Nature well knows, being a host — or publisher — of data is expensive. Keeping a platform technologically up to date is costly, as are data validation and curation. The running costs of the preprint server arXiv in 2017 are about US$1.3 million, for example, and the 2015 budget of the UK Data Archive was about £5.5 million ($8.2 million). For too long, public discussions have overlooked the true costs of data openness. More tangible support from governments and funders would work wonders.

funders, researchers and journals have much work to do to improve the transparency and reproducibility of research by means of data accessibility.