figshare will host data for PLOS

The community-based, open-data platform, figshare, will host the supplemental data for the seven Public Library of Science (PLOS) journals. It will also provide a widget that will enable PLOS users to view data in the articles in the browser alongside the content.

figshare, which is a Digital Science company, enables researchers to publish, share and get credit for their research data, hosting videos, datasets, graphs, figures and images. The partnership will enable PLOS to host data accompanying its publications and should therefore make the data easier to access for future use. Through figshare's widgets, users will also be able to visualise the research objects within the browser.

The new functionality on PLOS allows the files to be discovered through a portal on figshare that will go live in the coming weeks. This, combined with figshare’s API functionality, should allow easier linking of research outputs and the potential to build on previous research.

'PLOS believes in making data as visible and useful as possible,' commented Kristen Ratan, chief publishing and product officer at PLOS. 'Partnering with figshare is an important step in increasing the accessibility of the data associated with our research articles.'