For me, archiving data preserves the most fundamental principles of experimental science: reproducibility and openness to re-examination. Scientific interpretations evolve over time, but the data itself should remain accessible and stand on its own. A well-maintained data repository provides a durable foundation for experimental research by enabling others to verify, revisit, and build upon prior work. In an era of rapidly expanding scientific output, trusted data repositories play an essential role in maintaining the long-term health and integrity of the research community.

During the manuscript preparation process, I became increasingly aware of how central reproducibility is to meaningful scientific progress. A peer-reviewed journal article, by necessity, can only include a limited subset of experimental details, and many aspects of the workflow—especially those not directly queried during peer review—are often omitted. Depositing data in the Illinois Data Bank allowed me to provide a more complete and transparent record of the research process, including experimental details that are important for replication but difficult to fully document within a traditional publication. This level of openness supports more robust verification and reuse of results beyond what is typically possible in a journal article alone.

The Illinois Data Bank is an excellent resource for researchers at the University of Illinois, and the Research Data Service staff were exceptionally helpful throughout the data publication process. Their guidance made it much easier to address practical and conceptual questions related to data sharing, documentation, and long-term accessibility. I am genuinely grateful for the support provided by the platform and see it as an important component of responsible and transparent scientific research.