Research data is vital for supporting open access books and maintaining research integrity. Good research data management (RDM) ensures that data is organised, stored and shared effectively, with institutional support often available for planning and ethics considerations. Sharing data in repositories can boost citations and collaboration opportunities, although ethical constraints, such as confidentiality in medical and social sciences, may limit data sharing.
Funders and publishers may require data to be openly available and some publishers offer tools to help manage and publish research data. The two articles in this section unfold these topics and also address important differences between open access and non-open access book publishing.