The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) represents a significant and urgent threat to global health.

We call on researchers, journals and funders to ensure that research findings and data relevant to this outbreak are shared rapidly and openly to inform the public health response and help save lives.

We affirm the commitment to the principles set out in the 2016 Statement on data sharing in public health emergencies, and will seek to ensure that the World Health Organization (WHO) has rapid access to emerging findings that could aid the global response.

Specifically, we commit to work together to help ensure:

all peer-reviewed research publications relevant to the outbreak are made immediately open access, or freely available at least for the duration of the outbreak

research findings relevant to the outbreak are shared immediately with the WHO upon journal submission, by the journal and with author knowledge

research findings are made available via preprint servers before journal publication, or via platforms that make papers openly accessible before peer review, with clear statements regarding the availability of underlying data

researchers share interim and final research data relating to the outbreak, together with protocols and standards used to collect the data, as rapidly and widely as possible - including with public health and research communities and the WHO

authors are clear that data or preprints shared ahead of submission will not pre-empt its publication in these journals

We intend to apply the principles of this statement to similar outbreaks in the future where there is a significant public health benefit to ensuring data is shared widely and rapidly.

We urge others to make the same commitments. If your organisation is committed to supporting these principles, please contact us (d.carr@wellcome.org) and we will add your organisation to the list of signatories

Signatories to the statement

Academy of Medical Sciences, UK

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)

African Academy of Sciences

African Journal of Laboratory Medicine

American Chemical Society (ACS)*

American Physical Society (APS)*

American Society for Microbiology*

Annals of Internal Medicine*

ARTiFACTS

arXiv

Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response / Biodefense Advanced Research and Development Authority, USA

Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS)

Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

Ayass Bioscience LLC

BenevolentAI

Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM)

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Biochemical Society & Portland Press

BioRxiv

The British Medical Journal (BMJ)*

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Brunel University

Bulletin of the World Health Organization*

CABI

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation – Gulbenkian Science Institute

Cambridge University Press (CUP)*

Canada Foundation for Innovation

Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Canadian Science Publishing

Cancer Research UK

Cell Press*

Center for Biomedical Research Transparency (CBMRT)

Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), USA

CEPI

Certara

Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention

Chinese Journal of Lung Cancer*

CIFAR

Cochrane

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Company of Biologists*

CONCYTEC – National Council for Science, Technology and Technological Innovation, Peru

Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India

The Department for International Development (DFID), UK

Dutch Research Council (NWO)

EATRIS – European Infrastructure for Translational Medicine

EDP Sciences

eLife*

EcoHealth Alliance

Elsevier*

EMBO

EMBO Press*

Emerald Publishing*

Epicentre – MSF

European Commission

European Institute for Systems Biology & Medicine (EISBM)

European Respiratory Society*

European University Association (EUA)

F1000 Research Limited*

Fondation Merieux

Fonds de recherche du Québec, Canada

Food & Drug Administration, USA

French National Research Agency (ANR)

Frontiers*

Future Science Group (FSG)*

Genome Canada

Génome Québec

GeoVax

Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH)

The Global Health Network

Global Virus Network

GLOPID-R

Good Clinical Practice Alliance – Europe

Healthcare Infection Society*

Health Research Board, Ireland

Hindawi*

Indiana University

Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO)

Inserm (Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale), France

Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium

The Institut Pasteur

International Forum for Acute Care Trialists (InFACT)

International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC)

International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID)

International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

IOP Publishing*

The JAMA Network

Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED)

JMIR Publications*

Johnson & Johnson

Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences

Karger Publishers*

Kent Ridge Health Singapore

The Lancet*

Life Science Alliance*

Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR)

MDPI*

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

MedRxiv

Merck Research Laboratories

Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

Microbide Limited

Microbiology Society*

National Academy of Medicine, USA

National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), UK

National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA

National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italy

National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF Singapore)

National Science Centre, Poland

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) / Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada (CRSNG)

New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)*

Office of Global Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, USA

Oxford University Press*

Partners in Digital Health*

PeerJ*

Penn State University

PLOS*

PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA*

Portuguese Society of Mental Health Nursing

Project HOPE

ProMED

The Research Council of Norway

Research Square

Rockefeller University Press (RUP)*

The Royal Society*

SAGE Publishing*

Science Europe

Science Foundation Ireland

Science Journals – American Association for the Advancement of Science*

ScienceOpen

Sciencepaper Online

SciLifeLab – Science for Life Laboratory, Sweden

Society for Applied Microbiology

South African Medical Research Council

SPARC Europe

Springer Nature*

SSRN

STM

Strategic Initiative for Developing Capacity in Ethical Review (SIDCER)

Swedish Research Council

Takeda

Taylor & Francis*

UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union

University of Bristol

University College London

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Vivli

Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung)

Wellcome Trust

WikiJournal User Group*

Wiley*

Wolters Kluwer*

World Scientific Publishing

XPRIZE Foundation

ZonMW – The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development

*These journals/publishers have also agreed to make all of their COVID-19 and coronavirus-related publications, and the available data supporting them, immediately accessible in PubMed Central (PMC) and license it in ways that facilitate reuse.

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