Joint statement: Sharing research data and findings relevant to the novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak

“The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in China (2019-nCoV) represents a significant and urgent threat to global health. We call on researchers, journals and funders to ensure that research findings and data relevant to this outbreak are shared rapidly and openly to inform the public health response and help save lives.”

“We affirm the commitment to the principles set out in the 2016 Statement on data sharing in public health emergencies, and will seek to ensure that the World Health Organization has rapid access to emerging findings that could aid the global response.

Specifically, we commit to work together to help ensure:

• all peer-reviewed research publications relevant to the outbreak are made immediately open access, or freely available at least for the duration of the outbreak
• research findings relevant to the outbreak are shared immediately with the WHO upon journal submission, by the journal and with author knowledge
• research findings are made available via preprint servers before journal publication, or via platforms that make papers openly accessible before peer review, with clear statements regarding the availability of underlying data
• researchers share interim and final research data relating to the outbreak, together with protocols and standards used to collect the data, as rapidly and widely as possible – including with public health and research communities and the WHO
• authors are clear that data or preprints shared ahead of submission will not pre-empt its publication in these journals

We intend to apply the principles of this statement to similar outbreaks in the future where there is a significant public health benefit to ensuring data is shared widely and rapidly.

We urge others to make the same commitments. If your organisation is committed to supporting these principles, please contact the Wellcome Trust (d.carr@wellcome.ac.uk) and your organisation will be added to the list of signatories.

Signatories (alphabetical order)

1. Academy of Medical Sciences, UK
2. African Academy of Sciences
3. Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response / Biodefense Advanced Research and Development Authority, USA
4. Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
5. Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM)
6. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
7. BioRxiv
8. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), UK
9. Bulletin of the World Health Organization
10. The British Medical Journal (BMJ)
11. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation – Gulbenkian Science Institute
12. Canadian Institutes of Health Research
13. Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), USA
14. Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
15. The Department for International Development (DFID)
16. DG Research & Innovation, European Commission
17. Dutch Research Council (NWO)
18. eLife
19. EcoHealth Alliance
20. EMBO
21. Epicentre – MSF
22. European Respiratory Journal
23. ERJ Open Research
24. F1000 Research Limited
25. Fondation Merieux
26. Food & Drug Administration, USA
27. French National Research Agency (ANR)
28. The Global Health Network
29. Global Virus Network
30. GLOPID-R
31. Inserm (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale), France
32. The Institut Pasteur
33. International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC)
34. International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID)
35. Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)
36. Johnson & Johnson
37. The Lancet
38. Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR)
39. Medical Research Council (UK)
40. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
41. MedRxiv
42. Merck Research Laboratories
43. Microbide Limited
44. National Academy of Medicine, USA
45. National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
46. National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italy
47. New England Journal of Medicine
48. Office of Global Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, USA
49. Portland Press
50. PLOS
51. The Research Council of Norway
52. The Royal Society
53. Science Europe
54. Science Foundation Ireland
55. ScienceOpen
56. South African Medical Research Council
57. Takeda
58. Taylor & Francis
59. ZonMW – The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development