Access to data and material for research: putting empirical evidence into perspective

The aim of this article is to put into critical perspective the empirical findings on secrecy and withholding in research. In other words, by taking existing empirical literature into account, it is intended that a crucial question is answered: Is secrecy and withholding in research harmful or innocuous to science? To understand how secrecy and withholding in research have affected academic science, empirical studies have been placed in the wider context of Mertonian underpinnings of the anticommons threat. The turning point in testing the effects of secrecy and withholding of data and material on scientific research was marked by statistical studies based on surveys and bibliometric measures. These two types of empirical studies have given answers to the basic question since academia was threatened by different modes of practicing science.