The State of Open Data 2025: A decade of progress and what comes next

Ten years of researcher survey data, expert interviews, and longitudinal evidence — this report shows where open data has come from, where it’s stalling, and what needs to happen next.

Researchers back open data. The systems around them haven’t.

You share the principle. The mandates have arrived. But credit structures, recognition, and usable infrastructure haven’t kept pace. Data gets shared but not reused, effort goes unrecognised, and the case for investing more stays hard to make.

80.9%

Of researchers say open data should be standard scholarly practice

69.2%

Still say researchers get too little credit for sharing data

10%

Rise in researchers actively using AI tools in a single year, from 22% to 32%

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People are sharing their data, but not necessarily making it reusable. When sharing policies came in, what we started to see was data dumping grounds.”

Melissa Haendel

Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This report is for you if…

You’re a researcher, policy professional, or funder who wants an honest picture of where open data stands after a decade of advocacy and practice.

You share data but rarely get credit — and want evidence to make the case for change
You work in research policy, libraries, or institutional strategy and need to see where the gaps are
You fund open science initiatives and want to know what the evidence says works

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What you’ll discover

Based on 10 years of survey data from over 43,000 researchers, this report gives you a clear-eyed account of what’s changed — and what hasn’t.

What a decade of data reveals about where attitudes and practices have — and haven’t — shifted
Why mandate support is falling globally even as belief in open data stays strong
What the credit gap means in practice and what researchers, institutions, and funders can do about it

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