Data licensing and transfer negotiations, however, are costly in terms of both time and financial and other resources. This regime further portends adverse effects on researchers from low- and middle-income countries, who lack the resources of researchers in high-income countries. The International Committee of Journal Committee Editors committed to a position that prepublication of research results during public health emergencies would not affect publication decisions, but all stakeholders interviewed about that question argued that it had made no difference in the perceptions of researchers that they would be so penalized. The most frequently proposed approach was the creation of an award system for data sharing that would both reward evidence of sharing by researchers and conversely penalize them, mainly through funding mechanisms, upon a showing that they had not shared when under an obligation to do so. f. Capacity building initiatives in LMICs: Researchers were significantly dependent upon staff hired from the three most affected countries. These staff either did not have the knowledge and training to make data sharing effective even when it was proposed and, at higher levels, the importance or relevance of data being shared. “Public health authorities increasingly complement notifications with laboratory data, although in practice, this practice is often limited to high-income countries because it requires considerable laboratory capacity and advanced information technology infrastructure.”31 The Ebola outbreak showed the need for additional investments in health infrastructure and workforce to report data accurately and efficiently. At a more general level, data sharing