96% never deposited. Of 425 surveyed qualitative researchers in the US, 96% have never shared qualitative data in a repository (Mozersky et al. 2021)
Participants are more open than researchers. The vast majority of 30 interviewed participants of sensitive interview studies support sharing, deidentified and among researchers (Mozersky et al. 2020)
“Available on request” rarely holds. In an audit of 190 articles, 74% of datasets were unavailable (Asmundo et al. 2024), and only 31% of on-request promises were honoured when tested (Archer et al. 2025)
Where an archive exists, reuse happens. 7,155 downloads of 267 qualitative collections at the UK Data Service, 2002-2016; 60% of collections reused at least once, three quarters of downloads for teaching and learning (Bishop and Kuula-Luumi 2017)
References
Archer, D., Barks, N., Chaudhry, M., et al. (2025). Data sharing statements: impact of journal policies across clinical research disciplines. European Heart Journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehaf359
Asmundo, M. G., Durukan, E., Russo, G. I., Jensen, C. F. S., Østergren, P., Cimino, S., & Fode, M. (2024). Data availability statements and data sharing in urology: A false promise? European Urology Focus.
Bishop, L., & Kuula-Luumi, A. (2017). Revisiting qualitative data reuse: A decade on. SAGE Open, January-March 2017, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016685136
Mozersky, J., Parsons, M. V., Walsh, H. A., Baldwin, K. A., McIntosh, T. J., & DuBois, J. M. (2020). Research participant views regarding qualitative data sharing. Ethics & Human Research. https://doi.org/10.1002/eahr.500044
Mozersky, J., McIntosh, T. J., Walsh, H. A., Parsons, M. V., Goodman, M., & DuBois, J. M. (2021). Barriers and facilitators to qualitative data sharing in the United States: A survey of qualitative researchers. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0261719