Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A dataset deposited in a public repository with a CC-BY licence attached is meaningfully shared: it is discoverable, accessible, and its reuse terms are explicit.
- Is an instance
A data management plan states a specific timeline and licence under which a dataset will become shareable once an embargo period ends, satisfying a funder's sharing commitment.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A file uploaded to an open URL with no licence or permissions statement attached is technically online but not meaningfully shared, since a would-be reuser has no clear basis for knowing what they are allowed to do with it.
- Not an instance
Making a work read-only to prevent edits is a permissions control, not the same as making it shared -- a work can be read-only and entirely private at the same time.
Editorial commentary
Sharing describes the extent to which a work — a publication, dataset, or other research output — can be discovered, accessed, and reused by people other than its author(s). It is a broader concept than simple online availability: a work can be technically online and still not meaningfully “shared” if it carries no clear permissions, terms, or licence telling a would-be user what they are allowed to do with it.
How sharing is established
Sharing is typically defined or clarified through a reuse licence, an explicit permissions statement, or terms and conditions attached to the work at the point of deposit or publication. In practice, sharing sits at the intersection of access and rights: putting a file in a public repository controls who can reach it, while the licence attached to it controls what they can then do with it, and both matter for something to count as genuinely shared — access without a clear licence leaves a reuser unsure whether reuse is permitted at all.
Sharing vs. read-only, and where it appears in policy
Sharing is distinct from read-only status, which is a narrower, system-level permissions flag describing whether a given user can edit a record, independent of that record’s broader discoverability or reuse terms. Funder and institutional open access mandates and data management plans commonly include an explicit sharing commitment describing how, when, and under what licence outputs will be made shareable — typically specifying a repository, an embargo period if any, and the reuse licence that will apply once the output is deposited.
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="Sharing"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/sharing" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/sharing",
"name": "Sharing",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/sharing",
"description": "The extent to which a work, such as a publication, dataset, or other research output, can be discovered, accessed, and reused by people other than its author(s).",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/research-lifecycle#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/sharing",
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"author": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#editorial-team"
},
"datePublished": "2026-05-19T19:13:59",
"dateModified": "2026-09-05T17:30:27",
"inLanguage": "en-GB",
"isAccessibleForFree": true
}
