When scientists become ’data parasites,’ everybody wins
▻https://massivesci.com//articles/when-scientists-become-data-parasites-alison-gilchrist
As the term may suggest, these scientists are sometimes discredited because they did not do any of the work involved in producing or paying for the original studies. To combat that stigma, there are people who are celebrating these scientists for using publicly available data in new ways. Casey Greene, a computational biologist at the University of Pennsylvania, started the Research Parasite Awards in 2016. He gives these awards to people who conduct rigorous secondary analysis on data shared by other researchers.
For example, one of the award winners in 2016 was Dr. Erick Turner, from the Oregon Health & Science University. Turner studied the published results of FDA-registered clinical trials for antidepressants, and discovered a significant publication bias.