Despite policies and calls for scientists to make data available, this is not happening for most environmental- and biodiversity-related data because scientists' concerns about these efforts have not been answered and initiatives to motivate scientists to comply have been inadequate. Many of the issues regarding data availability can be addressed if the principles of “publication” rather than “sharing” are applied. However, online data publication systems also need to develop mechanisms for data citation and indices of data access comparable to those for citation systems in print journals.