The linking of data with publications such as journal articles is an increasingly important issue. Publishers such as Nature Publishing Group will not accept articles without accompanying data. However, journal publishers will increasingly struggle to find space for the avalanche of data points that large-scale scientific experiments produce. According to Geoffrey Boulton FRS, who leads the Royal Society's project, 'Science as a Public Enterprise', the published paper has become more of an "advertisement" and the "science sits in the underlying data".

All the same, linking articles with data is crucial to the future of science. Opportunities for Data Exchange has produced a Report on Integration of Data and Publications, which states:

"Publishers are beginning to embrace the opportunity to integrate data with publications but barriers to the sustainability of this practice include the sheer volume of data, the huge variety of data formats and a question mark over exactly what data should be made available within, be made supplemental to, or be linked with the publication. Also the quality of the data and attached metadata may not be consistent, lacking peer review, or is not being made transparent."

The report concluded:

• Researchers need somewhere to put data and make it safe for reuse
• Researchers need to control its sharing and access
• Researchers need the ability to integrate data and publication
• Researchers need to get credit for data as a first class research object
• Researchers need someone to pay for the costs of data availability and re-use.

The report is written from four perspectives:

• Researchers, who generate or reuse primary data
• Publishers, who provide the mechanisms to communicate research activities
• Libraries, which manage research publications
• Data centres, which manage the datasets researchers create and use