This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as an ‘Accepted Article’, doi: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2012.00259.x Willing and unwilling to share primary biodiversity data: results and implications of an international survey Xiaolei Huang1,2, Bradford A. Hawkins2, Fumin Lei1, Gary L. Miller3, Colin Favret4, Ruiling Zhang1, & Gexia Qiao1 1 Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China 2 Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA 3 USDA-ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA 4 Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, 4101 rue Sherbrook est, Montréal QC H1X2B2, Canada E-mail addresses: huangxl@ioz.ac.cn bhawkins@uci.edu leifm@ioz.ac.cn Gary.Miller@ARS.USDA.GOV ColinFavret@AphidNet.org zhangrl_06@126.com qiaogx@ioz.ac.cn Running title: Biodiversity data sharing and archiving Keywords: biodiversity, conservation, data archiving, data sharing, database, journal policy, primary biodiversity data Type of article: Letters 3341 words (abstract & manuscript) 25 references 3 figures 1 table

Correspondence Gexia Qiao, Xiaolei Huang, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Beichen West Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China. Tel: 0086 10 64807133 fax: 0086 10 64807099. E-mail: qiaogx@ioz.ac.cn, huangxl@ioz.ac.cn

Abstract Biodiversity science and conservation increasingly depend on the sharing and integration of large amounts of data, but many researchers resist sharing their primary biodiversity data. We recently conducted an international survey to ascertain the attitudes, experiences, and expectations regarding biodiversity data sharing and archiving of researchers. The results show that whereas most respondents are willing to share paper-related biodiversity data, more than sixty percent of respondents are unwilling to share primary data before publishing. Results indicate an underdeveloped culture of data sharing and several major technological and operational barriers. A major concern for researchers is appropriate benefits from data sharing. Most respondents would accept data archiving policies of journals. Researchers also express concerns about how to easily and efficiently deal with data and data quality in public databases. Expectations for biodiversity databases include standardization of data format, user-friendly data submission tools, formats for different types of data and coordination among databases. The survey results provide suggestions for improving data sharing and archiving by individual scientists, organizations, journals, and databases.